John Kennedy has challenged Leigh Griffiths to keep fighting for a space in Celtic's starting XI.

The Hoops interim manager admits Griffiths has been forced to bide his time because of the quality his side have at their disposal. The striker has been criticised for his lack of fitness this season previously and has only played 28 times this term, with most of his minutes coming from the bench.

Kennedy says Griffiths - who has scored seven times - must also scrap to make Scotland's squad for the Euros this summer after missing out on a number of Steve Clarke's announcements in recent months. The boss believes Griffiths can still be an asset for his country, but he must continue to keep his head down and work hard.

"With Leigh the opportunities, because of the quality we've got in the squad, it's not always easy to get everyone game time," Kennedy said. "Very much for Scotland they would love a Leigh Griffiths firing but for us we have to make sure we make the right decision for each game.

"Leigh's trained, he's not missed a session in the last period of time, as long as I can remember. He's trained every day, he's working hard, game time has been hard to come by. Just down to decisions in games and games, so he just has to keep working and make himself available and we'll see what develops over the coming weeks. Then Steve (Clarke) will have a decision to make on that."

It comes after midfielder David Turnbull, who has been impressive for Celtic this season despite their league campaign, missed out on a Scotland call-up for the most recent round of World Cup qualifiers.

Kennedy believes Turnbull has done enough to force his way into Clarke's plans for the tournament coming up, but he acknowledges there is a lot of competition for places in the midfield area.

"David is in good form, he's playing very well and has been very influential in the team," Kennedy added. "He's made himself an important player in our team. It's a position Steve probably has a lot of options in terms of Scotland, there are good players in that area of the pitch. But David can only concentrate on what he can affect and that's here in terms of how he trains every day and goes in and performs in the games.

"All he can do is pose the question to Steve and he'll be the one to make that decision nearer the time."

We told recently how Aberdeen and Hibs are keeping a close eye on Leigh Griffiths' contract situation with his future up in the air at Parkhead.