NEIL Lennon said he anticipates a difficult challenge against St Johnstone tonight (Wednesday) night despite Celtic’s strong record against them, and he revealed his team will be bolstered by the return of some players.

Following Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Ross County, the Hoops are back on the midweek road again, a week after the 3-1 win away to Kilmarnock, and this time the destination is Perth where the champions will face Tommy Wright’s St Johnstone.

The Hoops have won their previous six games at McDiarmid Park and will be determined to continue that run in order to preserve their five-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

Neil Lennon said he and his players are looking forward to the game but was quick to point out the dangers of underestimating the Saints.

“We’re concentrating on St Johnstone and looking forward to the game because, at the minute, we’re playing quite well,” he said. “Our focus is on tonight. It’ll be a tough game.

“Tommy has had a couple of decent results recently. Sometimes they have a bad run, but he manages to turn it around into a good run. He’s quite shrewd that way, so we just have to be careful, concentrate on our own business and remain calm.

“I’ve no idea why we’ve been so successful against them. Maybe their style of play suits our style of play. McDiarmid Park is wide and maybe that suits us. I can’t put a specific reason why we’ve played well against them on the last eight occasions.

“Ideally we win and then wait and see what the outcome of the next one is. For me, we aim to win games and hopefully the others around us drop points. That’s it really.”

Celtic’s pursuit of anther three points were bolstered by the news that some regular first-team players would be available for the match. Neil Lennon touched on the players ready to return and added he will only make changes to his formation if he feels it is the best approach for getting the win.

“We have a raft of games coming up now and we’ll just take it as it comes,” he said. “Christie and Ajer are back in the squad, which strengthens us, and is an obvious bonus.

“I thought we played very well there with a back three against Kilmarnock. The diamond sometimes gets a little bit narrow but the midfield players we have gives us the luxury of getting two strikers on the pitch and that’s always a help.

“We don’t want to be chopping and changing to be clever. We’re doing it for the right reasons and that’s to win games.”

Neil Lennon: Our away form will be key in St Johnstone test