Hartson and Thompson in fitness race

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill is hopeful John Hartson and Alan Thompson will be fit to face Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Bank of Scotland Premier League tomorrow.

Hartson’s ankle swelled up after the 6-0 weekend thrashing of Dunfermline but the top scorer trained today and seems certain to want to play through the pain barrier as he chases his best-ever goalscoring haul in one season.

Midfielder Thompson hurt his groin in training yesterday but O’Neill is optimistic he too will declare himself fit. Celtic are still without Chris Sutton but Juninho is back in contention for a place on the bench after injuring his ankle last week.

Provisional squad: Douglas, Henchoz, McNamara, Balde, Varga, Laursen, Petrov, McGeady, Thompson, Juninho, Hartson, Marshall, Lambert, Hartson, Wallace, Lennon, Bellamy, Fernandez, Beattie, Valgaeren, Hedman.