David Gray is hopeful that his full Hibs squad will be injury-free after this weekend’s game against Celtic.
The Hibees are on a fantastic run of form having remained unbeaten in their last 12 games across all competitions stretching back to mid December.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 3 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 26 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 34 | 39 | -5 | 38 |
| 4 |  Dundee UtdDundee Utd | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 32 | 31 | 1 | 37 |
| 5 |  HibernianHibernian | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 34 |
| 6 |  St MirrenSt Mirren | 26 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 30 | 39 | -9 | 31 |
They kept the positive vibes in the dressing room with a 1-0 Scottish Cup victory over Ayr United two weeks ago before earning a point on the road away to St Mirren.
Hibs last lost a game against Celtic and the Premiership champions are their opponents this week at Easter Road.
Gray spoke to the Edinburgh News to provide some injury updates ahead of the Saturday lunchtime clash including news on Joe Newell, Dylan Levitt, Elie Youan and Marvin Ekpiteta.
Joe Newell
David Gray has been without his captain Joe Newell since the end of December when Hibs won 1-0 against Kilmarnock.
He hobbled off the pitch that day with a groin issue and needed intervention surgery in January to address the injury.
Newell returned to training this week but Gray says the medical team are keeping an eye on his progress as he recovers from a lengthy lay-off.
Gray said: “Joe trained today fully, which was good. He’s been back in training since the start of this week.
“We’ll just have to see where he goes, because that was a big spike for him today. He’s managed to get through it, so we’ll just see how he is.
“He’s obviously been out for a number of weeks now, so that’ll be something we’ll have to assess and how he reacts after doing it.
“The good thing is, physically, he’s in a better place than he was when he was even when he was playing. He’s a lot stronger now.”
Will Newell play a part against Celtic? Gray replied: “Potentially. Kwon can’t play against his parent club, Alasana (Manneh) has been suspended now, so we’re a wee bit lighter in that position.
“Joe still has to get through the rest of this week. We still have to make sure he comes in tomorrow and doesn’t react from having done that big load today.”
Dylan Levitt
Hibs midfielder Dylan Levitt has endured a mixed season. He’s found himself mostly on the bench in Premiership games but has came to the fore more recently.
He notched an assist in the 1-1 draw with Ross County last month and started three consecutive games until the St Mirren draw last weekend.
Levitt missed that one due to strained knee ligaments but Gray isn’t deeming the injury a serious one.
The Hibs manager revealed: “Dylan trained today, which is more positive. He got through training, so we’ll just have to see how he is off the back of that.
“He’s had a previous injury from maybe a couple of years ago when he did his MCL and he’s just aggravated it again sort of thing.
“So he’s just had a bit of a bang and a stretch, an overstretch of one of the ligaments in his knee. But we’ve taken all the precautions and everything, seems to be pretty stable in there.
“And he was able to get through training today. We’ll just see how that reacts to make sure it doesn’t go back the way. He’s still got a couple of days before we need to make a decision on that.
“The good news is that it’s nothing too critical, that he can hopefully be back pretty quickly. And if the worst was to happen and he wasn’t quite available this weekend, it’s not as if this was going to be a long-term thing.”
Elie Youan
Elie Youan hasn’t played for Hibs since starring in the Boxing Day derby win over Hearts at Tynecastle. The Frenchman had a toe injury but he is nearing a comeback.
Youan was subject to transfer interest in January but Hibs managed to keep the forward. Gray said: “Elie’s been back on the grass the last few days, planning to train fully on Friday.”
Marvin Ekpiteta
Defender Marvin Ekpiteta is another long-term injury absentee who is now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Gray said: “It’ll just be a case of, obviously, individually looking at each player and saying: ‘Right, how far short is he? How many minutes has he had? What does he need and what’s the best way to move forward with him?’
“Because especially the likes of Marv, he’s been out for a while; he’s done another full week’s training, which is really positive.”
Hibs could be injury-free by next week
Gray is optimistic that if his squad gets through the weekend against Celtic without any further injury concerns, everyone should be in full training ahead of facing Dundee United in midweek.
He said: “If we come through the weekend okay, I think everybody should be back training fully going into the Dundee United game next midweek, so everyone back on Monday.
“Everyone who’s injured, everyone should be back in training at that point. All at very different levels of availability, of course. But all back together, all in the group, training every single day.”