On Friday, weather permitting, Celtic travel to Atherton to face Atherton Collieries in the league. Atherton are currently tenth in the league on thirty-seven points, five points and three places behind Celtic. Kick off 7:45pm.

A brilliant spell between the end of August and the end of October saw Atherton rocket up the table off the back of eight wins and a draw in ten matches, losing only once away at Bootle. This took them to second in the table, but since then, in the twelve matches since, they have won three, drawn three and lost six, dropping them to their current tenth spot. Their last home match was a Boxing Day win over Wythenshawe, and in their last five home matches overall, they have lost to Shifnal and Avro, beaten Khalsa and drawn with Vauxhall.

They have the ninth best home attack and the tenth best home defence, having scored twenty-one home goals, and conceded sixteen. On average, the Colls score 1.8 goals per home game (1.4 overall) and concede 1.3 (1.4 overall). Four of their six clean sheets have come at home, with two in their last three home games, and they have failed to score only once at home this season, when Runcorn beat them 2-0. Chinedu Uche is their top scorer, with eight goals, though with seven goals in nine matches, Harry Showman is catching him up.

We’ve already played Atherton this season, in our first home match, which we won 1-0, thanks to a second-half goal from Benni Smales-Braithwaite. Our last visit to Atherton saw us win 5-0, with two from Liam Tongue, and one apiece for Jack Tinning, Josh Quarless and Joe Edwards. Their last win over us was last season at Bower Fold, which they won 3-1, whereas the last time they beat us in Atherton was 4-1 in the league cup back in 2020, the 19/20 season seeing them win all three encounters. In six visits, Celtic have won two, drawn two and lost two.

In Atherton’s last match, the 2-2 away draw with Clitheroe, the Colls lined up as:
1. Kier Barry
2. Ben Rydel
3. Javid Swaby-Neavin
4. Luke Nock
5. Alex Doyle
6. Niall Battersby
7. Chinedu Uche
8. Joe Piggott
9. Harry Showman
10. Rodney Ajayi
11. Kielan Adams

In Celtic’s last match, the 6-2 home defeat to Bury, Celtic lined up as:
1. Charlie Monks
2. Kyle Brownhill
3. Mike Koral
4. Aaron Chalmers
5. Jack Byrne
6. Jordan Butterworth
7. Charlie Doyle
8. Liam Tongue
9. Ruben Jerome
10. Andy Scarisbrick
11. Ellis Horan

Jack Irlam will still be suspended for this match, though Jack Tinning is available.

With this being the only game on Friday, if it goes ahead, Celtic can get to fourth with a win, sixth with a draw and a loss will see us stay where we are, but risk dropping on Saturday when the rest of the league play.