Neil Lennon admits his Celtic side missed the sparkle of James Forrest against Dundee United at Parkhead on Saturday despite returning to the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League with a 2-1 win.
The Scotland winger has arguably been Celtic's best player this season but was sidelined after being unable to shrug off a virus.
Lennon is hoping the 20-year-old will be back refreshed for the trip to St Mirren next week, and said: "You can see how much we do miss him."
He added: "We had no natural winger in the team and with Kris Commons just coming back from injury we went with Georgios Samaras on the left.
"It worked okay in the first half but you do miss James' pace and ability on the counter-attack at times and his final ball.
"It is a flu thing. He trained on Tuesday and felt a bit off.
"He was weak on Thursday, he couldn't get a gallop up so we decided to pull him out completely and we are hoping he will be back training and will be well rested.
"It's good that he has this sort of mini-break because he probably needed it. He has played a lot of football this season for someone so young."
Celtic went back two points clear of Rangers who had beaten St Johnstone 2-1 at McDiarmid Park earlier in the day.
First-half goals by Southampton target Gary Hooper and midfielder Victor Wanyama gave the home side a comfortable interval lead. But United midfielder John Rankin pulled a goal back five minutes after the break to ensure a nervy second period.
Source: PA
