Chris Sutton believes Scott Brown “will walk back into” the Hoops midfield after his knee injury because he’s such a key player. The 33-year-old was initially brought off after 21 minutes against Hibernian on October 20 and has gone on to miss Celtic’s next three league games against Dundee FC, Hearts and Livingston.

Brown is expected to return later this month, potentially against Hamilton Academicals on November 24, and Sutton believes he will get straight back into the team as he’s a “driving force”. In his column for the Daily Record, the BT Sport pundit wrote: “Scott Brown will walk back into Celtic midfield because he’s the driving force.”

“It’s crazy to think he’s not going to be No.1 influence in the Celtic side as soon as he’s fit enough to get going again. Two or three good results and performances don’t change that fact. Can you imagine a Celtic lined up being named and Brown sat there on the bench at kick-off after being named as a sub No Me neither.”

Brown has made 19 appearances in all competitions for Celtic this season. He was a regular when fit, playing in all six of the Hoops’ Champions League qualifiers and both of their Europa League qualifiers. The knee injury has seen the midfield miss European group stage encounters and a League Cup outing, but he will soon return with the majority of the season still to be played.

The Scotland international’s contract is up in the summer but it’s hard to see Brown leaving unless his performances dwindle. A new deal has been mooted, so Sutton may be right in his assertions that he’s too important to be left out.

Stats from Transfermarkt.