RONNY DEILA will not allow the fact Celtic now trail Aberdeen in the title race to force him to risk bringing back injured stars before they are 100 per cent ready.

The postponement of yesterday's game against Partick Thistle due to a waterlogged Firhill pitch was a huge disappointment to the Hoops boss and his players.

They were forced to sit and watch the Dons jump into top spot in the table with a 2-0 win over St Johnstone - their sixth straight victory in the Premiership.

Derek McInnes' side can extend that lead to four points if they defeat Motherwell on Sunday, while Celtic must wait until Monday night before they can get back into action against Kilmarnock.

Deila refuses to panic, but did admit: "We want to be top of the table all the time. But we can't do anything about our opponents. The only thing we can do is focus on our performances and take the points we need."

That means Monday, but the artificial surface at Rugby Park will ensure Deila puts even more thought than normal into his team selection.

James Forrest was due to return for yesterday's game, while Mikael Lustig, Jason Denayer and Beram Kayal have also finally pushed their way back into contention after several weeks out.

But, given the nature of the surface, this could be deemed the wrong time and place to bring any of these important players back into the side.

Charlie Mulgrew's knee problem, which is still causing inflammation, is delaying his comeback, while Anthony Stokes is receiving treatment for the calf injury which forced him off after just five minutes of last weekend's draw with Ross County.

With Derk Boerrigter still sidelined, Aleksandar Tonev serving his seven-game suspension and Wakaso Mubarak about to head off to the African Cup of Nations for the remainder of the month, the squad is being fully stretched.

Deila is also having to contend with the fact Kris Commons and Kayal are now free to speak to other clubs as their contracts are set to run out at the end of the season.

Neil Lennon is ready to try and tempt Celtic with a £250,000 offer for last season's top scorer, Commons.

Maccabi Haifa are closely monitoring Kayal's situation, but have been left in no doubt the Parkhead club would be looking for a sizeable fee to allow him to go in this window.

Meanwhile, Celtic are looking at the options for rescheduling yesterday's match with Thistle.

They now have three games to re-arrange after calling off next week's match with St Johnstone to allow them to play in the Maspalomas Trophy in Gran Canaria and having their match against Kilmarnock on January 31 postponed as they are playing Rangers in the League Cup semi-final the following day.

Celtic fly out on Tuesday for their game against PSV Eindhoven in Gran Canaria a week tomorrow, then Sparta Prague on Tuesday, January 13, before they return to face Hamilton a fortnight tomorrow.

They already have a midweek game against Motherwell on Wednesday, January 21, so the following week would be the first free date for one of these three postponed games, though the Hoops would be unhappy about playing just a few days before heading to Hampden for the semi-final.