The heat was on and just on cue Celtic produced their best display of the season yesterday to comfortably dismiss third-placed Hibs 3-0 and remain one point behind leaders Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
With the Govan side having triumphed 5-1 earlier in the day at Motherwell it was vital Celtic didn’t lose any ground and, on the back of some disappointing recent displays, a convincing performance was in order too.
The men in Hoops produced, on both counts.
Some eyebrows were raised when Neill Lennon benched Odsonne Edouard and started Albian Ajeti upfront with Mohamed Elyounoussi also starting on the left side as the pair looked to rekindle the magic they had produced earlier in their careers whilst playing alongside each other at Basel in the Swiss top flight.
But it was Callum McGregor who waved his wand early instead as he gave us the lead on seven mins after his daisy-cutter from outside the box gave visiting keeper Ofir Marciano no chance.
After that, it was back and forth stuff with Hibs’ young striker Kevin Nesbit getting in behind Shane Duffy a few times and causing panic.
But it was Celtic who increased their lead on 35 mins when an Elyounoussi shot was saved by Marciano before Ajeti clinically netted the rebound from close range.
That’s five goals in six league games for the Swiss hitman who is the sort of penalty box striker we haven’t had in years.
Unfortunately, he limped off with a hamstring strain not long after and it’s unknown yet how long he’ll be out for though he will definitely miss the Thursday night Europa League trip to Sarajevo.
Not long before half time Greg Taylor put an inch-perfect ball across the face of goal and it just needed someone to attack it but instead, it whistled just past the head of Elyounoussi who probably wasn’t the best recipient for that situation to be honest and Jeremie Frimpong fired over at the back post.
With Edouard coming on for the injured Ajeti, David Turnbull was also a half time sub replacing Ryan Christie and the former Motherwell man looked impressive with one strike from distance being blocked by Marciano before another was kept out via a Hibs defender’s leg.
On 79 mins he released Elyounoussi with a beautifully weighted pass and the Norwegian internationalist wrapped up the points with a fine finish into the bottom corner which completed a very impressive and dominant second half Celtic display.
It takes us to within one point and one goal of our Glasgow rivals with one game less played.
After the relentless criticism of Thursday nights display it was much needed and also lays down a marker against a team who had held Rangers to a 2-2 draw the previous weekend.
So many players impressed with Scott Brown producing his best display of the season and Frimpong carried on his mesmeric form from Thursday night with another relentless display down the right-wing.
You can’t also help but be very excited by David Turnbull who really does look like a player showing a vision, presence and confidence that belittles his years.
That’s seven wins out of eight to begin the league season and our best start since the invincible campaign of 2016/17.
And now, of course, it’s onto the Thursday night and Europa League play-off game away in FK Sarajevo for a 7pm kickoff followed by a Sunday midday visit to Perth to play struggling St.Johnstone.
When that’s all out of the way we’ll have the end of the transfer window to negotiate before another international break.
I’ll preview the Sarajevo game fully on Wednesday morning but needless to say, it should be winnable and continued European action until after Christmas has become a seasonal expectation at Celtic so the pressure is on but then again when is it never?!
Here are the weekend’s goals:
....Always A Tim! 