Celtic's injury problems look to be easing after coach John Kennedy revealed that two central defenders are close to playing for the first team.

Brendan Rodgers' squad has been hit with numerous injuries in recent weeks and Dedryck Boyata and Kristoffer Ajer were added to the list of casualties when they were both forced to leave the field during Celtic's defeat to Kilmarnock on Saturday.

The loss of two centre-backs was of real concern ahead of the Europa League tie against Zenit St Petersburg next week but Kennedy has said that at least one stopper will be fit to face the Russian side.

Jozo Simunovic missed the Rugby Park defeat but his coach said that it was as a precaution with the match being played on an artificial surface.

"Jozo missed the match at the weekend but he will be fine," Kennedy told the Celtic View.

"We just didn't risk him on the pitch there."

Celtic fans haven't yet had a chance to see January signing Marvin Compper in action and he is nearing his debut, though Kennedy warned he won't be rushed into action.

"We have one or two others, including Compper, who is back in training and we hope to see one or two other faces coming back in," he said.

"But these are guys who haven't had a lot of minutes on the training pitch, so we have to make sure they get their fitness up in terms of training before we look at the games."

The coach also said that there was no news on how long Boyata and Ajer would be absent for, with both getting scans to assess the extent of their injuries.