On Boxing Day (Friday), Celtic are away for their shortest trip to Mossley. Mossley are currently thirteenth on twenty-seven points, fourteen points and eight places behind Celtic. Kick off 3pm. There will be no live match centre for this game.

In Mossley’s last five home matches, they have won two, drawn two and lost 5-1 to Bootle in their most recent home game. In their last five overall, they beat Khalsa 2-1 away from home, but lost the other four, most recently two 2-1 defeats away at Bury and Lower Breck. Overall, at home, they are the draw masters, with five draws, three losses and three wins. Celtic are the only team in the league this season Mossley have yet to play. In every home game they have been winning at half time, they have gone on to win, In the home games form table, Mossley are seventeenth.

Mossley have the fourth worst home attack, with only Wythenshawe, Witton and Darlaston scoring fewer at home, but they also have the sixth best home defence, conceding twelve. They are also the late goal specialists, with a quarter of all their goals scored in the last five minutes. They got three of those late goals against Sporting Khalsa. On average they score 1.3 goals per home game (1.4 overall), failing to score in five home matches (and one away), whilst conceding 1.1 goals per home game (1.3 overall) and keeping five clean sheets at home (and two on the road). With six goals, Reece Webb-Foster tops their league goal chart, with Oumar Camara and former Celt Obua Mugalula right behind on five.

We’ve played Mossley a lot over the years. Mainly in friendlies. Their last win over us was exactly two years ago, when they beat us 2-0 in the Boxing Day fixture. We followed that up with a 1-0 win at Bower Fold, Jordan Burton with the goal. Last season, we beat them on Boxing day 2-1 at Bower Fold, with Liam Tongue and Lewis Rawsthorn scoring either side of an Obua Mugalula goal. The last meeting, in April, saw the two sides draw 2-2, Celtic leaving it very late to get a point, with Jack Irlam and Courtney Meppen-Walters scoring in the last few minutes. In our last seven competitive visits to Seal Park, Celtic have won four, but you do have to go back to 1991 for that win. Mossley have won two and the last visit there was a draw.

In Mossley’s last match, the 2-1 away defeat to Lower Breck, Mossley lined up as:
1. Fin Madigan
2. Jack Marrow
3. Gee Baltazar
4. Mark Lees
5. Jack Grundy
6. Matt Kardacz
7. Reece Webb-Foster
8. Sean Kgwakgwa
9. Connor Hughes
10. Callum Stringer
11. Obua Mugalula

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

Jack Irlam is available for the Boxing Day match, with his three-game suspension starting on New Year’s Day. Jack Tinning will be available after his suspension, while Ruben Jerome should also be fit again after illness.

Four teams, including Celtic, are on forty-one points, with second spot held by Avro (away at Trafford) with forty-three points. Runcorn (away at Bootle) and Vauxhall (at home to Breck) are ahead of us on goal difference, while Bury (at home to Clitheroe) are behind on goal difference. Shifnal Town (away at Congleton) are within three points of us. If there is a Christmas Miracle and all the results go our way, Celtic could be second. If it’s a Christmas Nightmare and they all go against us, we could drop to seventh.