NEIL LENNON is banking on V for Victory for Celtic tomorrow night when his side bid to remove Helsingborgs from their path to the Champions League group stages.

The Hoops manager believes the return of Victor Wanyama after his one-game European suspension could not be better timed.

With Beram Kayal and Joe Ledley ruled out through injury, and Scott Brown operating at less than 100 per cent due to the hip-joint problem he has been nursing for the past month, the Kenyan powerhouse will be the rock on which Celtic launch their assault on qualification for the £15million ticket to Thursday's draw for Europe's premier competition.

The 21-year-old missed out on the first leg of this play-off tie after being sent off in the previous round win in Helsinki.

That meant he could not make a happy return to Helsingborgs – ironically, where his senior career began.

Along with his brother, McDonald Mariga, Wanyama joined the Swedes as a teenager.

But after his elder sibling won a move to Parma, he got homesick and returned to Kenya from where Belgian club, Germinal Beerschot, picked him up for £900,000.

Now he is being tracked by the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, with a price tag of at least £10m.

Lennon faces a fraught few days until the transfer window closes because he wants to retain Wanyama for at least one more season.

And he hopes that by helping Celtic reach the group stage for the first time in four years – his brother became the first Kenyan to play in the competition when he turned out for Inter Milan in 2010 – the rising star will be encouraged to try and realise his ambitions at Parkhead.

Lennon said: "I didn't actually know that Helsingborgs was Victor's first club.

"But he will still be an unknown quantity to them because he did not play in the first leg.

"With Joe Ledley and Beram Kayal probably going to miss the game, he will have a vital role."

Helsingborgs were given far too much room in the centre of the park in the first leg, and could have made Celtic pay.

Wanyama offers strong protection to the back four, and Lennon said: "Victor is a huge player for us. He was not at his best against Ross County, and missed out through suspension in Sweden last midweek.

"That's why I think he felt he'd a point to prove on Saturday at Inverness.

"But we know what we have got with Victor. He got the ball rolling with the opening goal against Inverness, and went on to have an exceptional game."