After taking some criticism for leaving £10m worth of new defenders on the bench for the Champions League exit to Cluj, Neil Lennon brings both Christopher Jullien and Boli Bolingoli in to the defence this afternoon.

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Craig Gordon replaces the injured Scott Bain between the sticks, while Nir Bitton takes his place as the third centre-half. Leigh Griffiths partners Odsonne Edouard up top.

As for Dunfermline, Euan Murray and Andy Ryan drop out, and Stuart Morrison and Josh Edwards come in.

There are debuts this afternoon for Jamie Hamilton and William Collar for Hamilton, and head coach Brian Rice explains their inclusion.

He tells BBC Scotland: "Jamie Hamilton is only 17 but he's captained Scotland U17s. He's performed remarkably well since coming to the club.

"Will Collar is a young lad I've brought in from Brighton after seeing him on my travels. I'm excited about these two lads and I hope they do themselves justice."

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And Rice is not taking today's game for granted despite beating Kilmarnock last week.

He said: "We went to Ross County two weeks ago and were terrible, and we bounced back last week because we had the bit between the teeth. I'm sure Kilmarnock will be the same."

Partick Thistle manager Gary Caldwell says there is plenty of excitement around Firhill ahead of the tie.

"Any time you play in cup competitions and get into the latter stages there's excitement around the club. Today's no different and it's an opportunity to get to the quarter-finals.

"I said to the boys we had that experience last year at Hearts and it was great so we want to try to take that further."

Kilmarnock manager Angelo Alessio says Kilmarnock are out to win the trophy.

He explains why he has switched the line-up from last week's 2-0 loss to the same opponents.

He tells BBC Scotland: "It is important to try the solution, and we are playing two strikers today. I think this is the best line-up.

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"I'm happy with the squad. We played well last week but we conceded easy goals. We missed our chances.

"This is the target for the season because we believe in this cup."

Belgian left-back Boli Bolingoli starts in midfield for Celtic this afternoon. His omission in the Champions League defeat by Cluj - and Callum McGregor featuring at left-back - was the source of some controversy.

"I get asked a lot about Boli," Celtic manager Neil Lennon tells BBC Scotland's Sportsound. "Even if I don't play him I get asked about him.

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"Again, just acclimatization, I think it's a good game for him to play. The more minutes he gets, hopefully, the more confident he'll get as well."

Celtic manager Neil Lennon: "I'm giving the other ones an opportunity to play. Scott Brown is having a complete rest as he's played every minute more or less of every game.

"It's an opportunity to get Leigh Griffiths and Nir Bitton on [who'll play in midfield today] so we're very strong.

"It [the formation] is probably [3-1-4-2] but we can always rotate it to a back four as well."

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland at Celtic Park

The Celtic team makes for interesting reading. Five changes form the midweek defeat by Cluj: no Simunovic, Brown, Forrest and Ntcham. Scott Bain misses out with that thumb injury. An interesting formation, if true, although I'll need to verify that with Neil Lennon - 3-1-4-2.

Forfar: McCallum, Meechan, Travis, Docherty, Burns, Forbes, Tapping, Irvine, Kirkpatrick, Jackson, Hilson

Livingston: Sarkic, Devlin, Lithgow, Guthrie, Lamie, Bartley, Crawford, Souda, Lawless, Pittman, Dykes.

Ross County's Billy Mckay has already scored four goals so far in this season's League Cup campaign. Can the number nine add to his tally at Firhill this afternoon?

This could be a high-scoring tie, folks...

Image source, SNS

Celtic: Gordon, Elhamed, Jullien, Ajer, Bitton, Johnston, McGregor, Christie, Boligoli, Griffiths, Edouard.

Dunfermline: Scully, Comrie , Ashcroft, Morrison, Martin, Paton (c), Dow, Beadling, Edwards, Turner, Nisbet.

Hibernian: Maxwell, Gray, McGregor, Hanlon, Stevenson, Horgan, Slivka, Vela, Middleton, Allan, Kamberi.

Morton: Rogers, McLean, Jacobs, Millar, McAlister, Nesbitt, McHugh, Strapp, Lyon, Blues, Cadden

Hearts became the first club to reach the quarter-finals of this season's Scottish League Cup by seeing off a spirited Motherwell comeback at Fir Park.

The Jambos led through Michael Smith's stunning strike - scored after Sean Clare missed an early penalty - then doubled their lead before the break with Conor Washington's spot-kick.

'Well set up a pulsating last half-hour after substitute Chris Long pulled one back, but the visitors held on.

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Hearts manager Craig Levein:"The pleasing thing is that 2-1 didn't flatter us. I always know when we're lacking confidence because we resort to the safe ball all the time and we didn't do that.

"I looked at the bench and saw the quality, and thought, 'We can alter the course of the match by going to the bench'. It makes the first XI think they need to be at their best to stay in the team."

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson:"We didn't do enough to win the game. I thought we were laboured and predictable and passed the ball too slowly without any purpose.

"There were a few people didn't do their jobs in the first half but that's the level of player we need to recruit so we have to teach them. We didn't lose because of the penalties. We lacked real men tonight."

Kilmarnock: Branescu, O'Donnell, Taylor, Broadfoot, Findlay, McKenzie, Burke, Power, El Makrini, Cameron, Brophy.

Subs: MacDonald, Bruce, Millen, Thomas, Millar, Dicker, Kiltie

Hamilton: Fon Williams, McGowan, McMann, Collar, Oakley, Gogic, Cunningham, MacKinnon, Subbs, L.Smith, Hamilton.

Subs: Southwood, Fjortoft, Miller, Hughes, Moyo, Mimnaugh, Ogkmpoe

Celtic are licking their wounds as they begin their League Cup title defence following their shock Champions League exit at the hands of Romanian outfit Cluj.

Neil Lennon, who came under fire for playing midfielder Callum McGregor at left-back in Tuesday's loss, is remaining on the front foot.

Image source, Reuters

"It's a couple of seasons since we qualified, but the gravitas of the club is still geared towards the Champions League," said Lennon.

"We are bullish about things and have a lot to play for, it's a setback but we are galvanised and united and we'll go again."