JOHN KENNEDY has had high praise for Leigh Griffiths ahead of the Glasgow Derby.

The striker has been a fringe figure in the squad at best this season, his fitness always being called into question.

Kennedy told CelticTV, the Scottish striker has not missed a training session and has been putting the hard graft.

It was in response to a question about Leigh’s chances of getting into Scotland’s Euro squad this summer.

“With Leigh the opportunities, because of the quality we’ve got in the squad, it’s not always easy to get everyone game time.

“Very much for Scotland they would love a Leigh Griffiths firing but for us we have to make sure we make the right decision for each game.

“Leigh’s trained, he’s not missed a session in the last period of time, as long as I can remember. He’s trained every day, he’s working hard, game time has been hard to come by.

“Just down to decisions in games and games, so he just has to keep working and make himself available and we’ll see what develops over the coming weeks. Then Steve will have a decision to make on that.”

I don’t think there’s much danger of Leigh starting over Odsonne Edouard at Ibrox this afternoon but if James Forrest doesn’t make the squad, it sounds like John is confident in the striker’s fitness.

Two up top could be an option if the interim boss needs to shake things up.

The 4-2-3-1 setup relies heavily on Forrest being fit. If you put Ryan Christie out in that position, you don’t get the natural width and you get a guy who wants to cut in and take shots.

Leigh could be a curve ball start if things pan out differently.