St Mirren vs Celtic: referee and VAR appointments confirmed

Celtic will travel to Paisley this weekend for a meeting between the Premiership’s top two sides, with the Scottish FA confirming the officials for Saturday evening’s fixture.

The Hoops continued their perfect start to the league campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Aberdeen. Benjamin Nygren, Camilo Duran and Yang Hyun-jun were all on the scoresheet as Martin O’Neill’s side secured a fourth consecutive league win.

Shim Mheuka and Oliver Sorensen were introduced from the bench for their Celtic debuts, while the match also saw club legend Kenny Dalglish make an emotional return to Paradise.

Duran’s goal was arguably the standout moment of the evening, but Celtic must now turn their attention to another difficult away test against St Mirren. The match gets underway at 8pm on Saturday and will be shown live on Sky Sports.

Celtic were pushed all the way the last time they visited St Mirren in November, with Callum McGregor scoring a dramatic 95th-minute winner to seal victory.

St Mirren have also made an encouraging start to the campaign, with Craig McLeish’s team producing some impressive football as they look to maintain their unbeaten record.

The Scottish FA has now confirmed the officiating team for the contest, with Ryan Lee appointed as the referee.

The 29-year-old has previously overseen one Celtic fixture last season, taking charge of their 3-1 victory over Falkirk. He was also the referee for Celtic’s 5-1 away win against Kilmarnock last month.

Scott Anderson and Ross Nelson will operate as the two assistant referees, while Don Robertson has been selected as the VAR. Gary Hilland will assist Robertson in the VAR room.

Saturday’s match will also be Yang Hyun-jun’s final appearance for Celtic before he leaves to join up with South Korea’s squad for the Asian Games in Japan.

There is little time for the Hoops to rest after the St Mirren clash, with a trip to St Johnstone next on the schedule before a League Cup quarter-final against Rangers at Ibrox on September 13.

O’Neill also has several new signings waiting to make their Celtic debuts. Joel van den Berg, Jordan Latomba, Sam Johnstone and Landon Emenalo have all joined the club, although Emenalo is currently sidelined with an injury expected to keep him out for a couple of weeks.

With a busy run of fixtures ahead, O’Neill is likely to rely heavily on his entire squad and will be hoping the new arrivals can make an immediate impact when called upon.