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• Brendan Rodgers insists hard work is key for Celtic squad over busy December

  Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers stressed that hard work and mentality would be crucial during a busy December for players who are in and out of his side.

  Rodgers claimed he was the angriest he has ever been as a manager at half-time at McDiarmid Park on Sunday with Celtic trailing 1-0.

  His players reacted to his accusations they had been “soft” in the first half and went on to beat St Johnstone 3-1.

  “For me, it’s very, very straightforward, football,” Rodgers said. “What you gain through experience, and when you take away the technical jargon, the difference in the game is about working hard.

  “And when you are a top team, it’s about working very hard. We failed to do that in the first half and if you don’t do that, you can get punished, with any team.

  “So you always have to guard against that. No matter how good a team you are, the start point for any team is your work. And once you put your work in and play to the intensity and speed of which you are asked to play, you see the difference it makes.

  “There was nothing tactical about Sunday, it was about mentality and physicality and once you bring that to the game you get your rewards.”

  Rodgers has spoken of the need to strengthen his squad in recent weeks despite admitting he has too many players.

  Such comments might not give much encouragement to those who are unable to break into his team, including summer signings Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke, who are being kept out of central defence by Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales. But Rodgers has told his squad players to keep believing.

  “I am out there every day watching training,” he said. “And when I see players training and working with that personality then they will always edge their way closer to my thinking.

  “I have said before it is clear our squad is quite big. Unfortunately for the likes of Maik and Gustaf, Scalesy came into the team and really took his opportunity. Nat Phillips has been brilliant since he has been here, he has been a real positive influence, and it’s the one area of the team you don’t want to change too much when both players are fit.

  “So for any player it’s all about what they do in training and that is all they can do. You can’t get too disappointed. If you are working hard, then hopefully those opportunities come for you.

  “All the guys who came into the game (on Sunday) affected it. The modern game is not now just about the 11 players who start. Guys like Mikey (Johnston) coming into the game was outstanding, very direct, fast and was creative, and worked hard. Jamesy (Forrest) gets his goal, Tommo (Tomoki Iwata) comes in and creates the third goal.

  “That’s testament to how they train, the intensity of our training every day allows them to be at a good level so when they come into the game they make an impact.”

  Rodgers will have Luis Palma available for Wednesday’s cinch Premiership encounter with Hibernian after the winger went off with cramp in Perth.

  Injured trio Daizen Maeda, Liel Abada and Reo Hatate are still to return to full training.

  “Liel and Daizen are both on the pitch now which is great news,” Rodgers said. “Daizen is probably a little bit ahead of Liel, but I am expecting at some point this month they will be available.

  “They are back out on the field with the medical team and the rehabilitation team, and hopefully it won’t be too long before they will be back in with the squad again.

  “We allowed Reo to go back to Japan and he has worked very hard there. He returns later in the week and we will assess him when he comes back.”

• Mauricio Pochettino wants Enzo Fernandez to ‘build confidence’ from Brighton win

  Mauricio Pochettino believes Enzo Fernandez has the confidence to begin showing his best form for Chelsea after the World Cup winner netted his first Premier League goals against Brighton.

  The 22-year-old headed in his team’s first after 17 minutes before adding a second from the penalty spot after the break, as the hosts weathered the loss of captain Conor Gallagher to a red card in the 45th minute to claim a 3-2 victory at Stamford Bridge.

  It was a first win in six attempts in the Premier League against Roberto De Zerbi’s side and saw the Argentina international, who signed from Benfica for a then British record £107million in January, finally break his scoring duck in the league on his 31st appearance.

  His influence has grown at the heart of Chelsea’s midfield, particularly since the arrival of Moises Caicedo in August, which has allowed him to take up more advanced positions.

  Pochettino, who also saw defender Levi Colwill score his first for the club, predicted Fernandez’s first league goals will only accelerate his progress.

  “It’s important that different players can score,” said the manager. “It was Enzo’s first and second in the Premier League, it’s important to build confidence.

  “Players sometimes need one season, six months, 10 months to start to show their real quality. Why would it be different at Chelsea?

  “So happy that different players can score. It’s a good thing for the team.”

  The win was just Chelsea’s second at home in the league this season and their fourth of 2023, lifting them into the top half of the table following the previous weekend’s 4-1 rout by Newcastle.

  The game finished amidst confusion as Brighton were awarded a penalty in the ninth minute of stoppage time by referee Craig Pawson after the ball struck Colwill in the face inside the box.

  A pitch-side VAR check – the game’s second after Mykhailo Mudryk had won a spot-kick following a review – overturned the decision, but emotions boiled over with players of both sides squaring up to each other as the final whilst went.

  “Football is emotional, no?” said Pochettino. “It’s normal, our reaction and the reaction from Brighton.

  “You are playing for a lot of things. It’s really important there three points for us (or) one point for Brighton.

  “There’s massive confusion at the end of the game. It was exciting, people were upset. That’s what happened when we were in the middle all together.

  “You create this type of relationship where it becomes massive confusion.”

• Sarina Wiegman: No chance Scotland will let England win to aid GB Olympic hopes

  England boss Sarina Wiegman has stressed there is “no way” Scotland are going to “give away” the game when the sides meet at Hampden Park on Tuesday in their final Nations League group fixture.

  The second-placed Lionesses may need a high-scoring win against the already-relegated Scots to claim top spot in the group, the finish required to keep Wiegman’s team in contention to secure Paris 2024 Olympic qualification for Great Britain.

  With England success on that front the only way Scottish players will be able to play at the Games, Andries Jonker, head coach of group leaders the Netherlands, described the situation as “strange” after England’s 3-2 win over the Dutch at Wembley on Friday.

  Wiegman told a press conference on Monday: “I understand the conversations about it.

  “But if you have seen our group, seen Scotland and know the history of Scotland and England, then there’s no way that they are going to give away this game. They really want to beat England and we want to beat them, of course.

  “There’s such a rivalry that that is absolutely not going to be the case. We saw it when we played in England (a 2-1 win for England in September).

  “I don’t have the solution. This is the first time we’ve played the Nations League, and how are you going to solve this situation? Maybe you don’t want them in the same group, but then if Scotland topped another group, we topped one and we went into the finals, you’d have the same situation.

  “It’s just about fair play, about football, and in football everyone wants to win, and we know the rivalry.

  “We have professional players here who really want to show up – England players and Scottish players. I think it’s going to be a good game where everyone wants to perform at their highest level.”

  England midfielder Keira Walsh said: “Nobody is questioning the professionalism of this game.

  “They’ve got some top players, so do we and we both want to win. I don’t think it’s a case of they’ll be thinking about anything else, I think we both want to play a good game and hopefully win.”

  While England and the Netherlands, each on nine points from five games, are locked on head to head record, the latter have a goal difference that is superior by three. The Dutch on Tuesday host a Belgium outfit who lie a point behind in third.

  Wiegman said of her players: “You don’t want to be erratic. We want to be controlled, but we really want to play our best game and create chances, get a lot of players up front, but do the right things, make the right choices, stay calm at all moments and score as a team, and again then don’t concede any.

  “Lets start, play a possession game, try to get in behind the defence, create lots of chances and score.”

  England battled back to triumph on Friday after being 2-0 down at half-time, with the second Dutch goal coming when Mary Earps got a glove to Lineth Beerensteyn’s shot but could not stop it crossing the line.

  Earps afterwards said she had “really let the team down”, something Wiegman then said was not the case.

  Walsh added: “Mary has saved us in so many situations. For me, she’s always been there in the big moments for us, so she really doesn’t need to take that on herself.

  “It has to go past 10 other players before it gets to her and I think there were numerous mistakes leading up to that one.

  “She’s in good spirits now I think. Even at breakfast this morning she was making jokes about it. Mary’s delivered before so I’m pretty sure she will again.”