FORMER Celtic striker Chris Sutton reckons that Saturday's Old Firm derby could come too soon for Leigh Griffiths - and has backed Polish striker Patryk Klimala to get the nod up front.

Neil Lennon faces something of a selection headache in attack, with Odsonne Edouard a doubt for the game after testing positive for Covid-19 and question marks over the fitness of Albian Ajeti and Leigh Griffiths.

Ajeti picked up a knock in his side's win over Hibs last month and sat out their most recent Premiership game against St Johnstone, where Leigh Griffiths came off the bench to put Celtic ahead in stoppage time before Klimala added a second at the death.

Speaking on the Record Celtic podcast, Sutton warned that his old side can't afford to go into the derby "half-baked" with players not entirely match-fit - and reckons that Klimala should be Lennon's first pick up top as a result.

He said: "It's interesting, isn't it? Neil Lennon could have those three players [Edouard, Ajeti and Griffiths] on the bench, but we can't honestly say they'll be up to speed fitness-wise. That's just not going to be the case.

"Leigh Griffiths could have had another couple of weeks of training under his belt which would have been important but he's been missing for months and months and months now. Condition-wise, he wouldn't be at that level.

"Ajeti was doing alright, [it was] surprising at times when Neil left him out and tried to nurture him because he was always wary about him getting an injury, which eventually he did get.

"But you can't go into these games half-baked. That's the issue, you can't have somebody up top who's not fit enough and not going to cause a problem. So I think at this moment in time, Neil's hand looks like it's pretty much forced into playing Klimala.

"If I'm honest, when I first saw Klimala, I didn't think that he was anywhere near up to the mark. But he's growing on me and I think he's growing on the Celtic fans.

"They know they're going to get a good, honest shift in, they know that he can be nuisance value.

"I think his finishing can improve but I like how he's improving in a Celtic jersey. So if you're asking me at this moment in time who is going to start up top, I think it will be Patryk Klimala."