'Forrest now key to title charge after incredible turnaround in fortunes'
Celtic comeback king James Forrest has dominated the headlines in the last 10 days. And rightly so.
For someone who failed to play any first-team football from 23 December to 10 March, the turnaround in his fortunes has been nothing short of incredible.
The debate will go on about whether his recent inclusion has been by luck or design but in truth it’s probably a combination of the two.
Celtic are lacking wingers who perform consistently well. We’ve seen in flashes what new recruits Luis Palma, Yang Hyun-jun and Nicholas Khun are capable of but none of them have produced on a regular basis.
In addition, the loss of Jota last summer and Liel Abada more recently, as well as injury issues for Daizen Maeda, has dramatically reduced Brendan Rodgers' wide options.
Enter Celtic’s third most decorated player. Incredibly, with 22 trophies to his name – a record he shares with ex-skipper Scott Brown – Forrest is behind only Billy McNeill and Bobby Lennox when it comes to silverware across our 136-year history.
He has seen and done it all in 14 seasons in Celtic’s first-team squad and is a player Rodgers knows he can trust.
Put simply, his two goals against Dundee are the reason Celtic remain three points clear at the top of the table, with his first in particular showing exceptional technical ability.
With just four league games remaining Celtic’s number 49 now looks key to the title charge and with three goals in two games he has again stepped up when his side needed him most.
Should Celtic go on to claim a league and cup double in the weeks ahead he’ll leapfrog McNeill into second place in the Hoops honours list.
The only focus right now for him and his manager will be Hearts on Saturday. If we can claim all three points then maybe, just maybe, we can start to look at rewriting the history books.
Tino can be found on The Celtic Exchange
