The Welsh international defender expects tomorrow’s game against Aberdeen to be competitive, but admits he is happy to have the title-winning business dealt with before heading to Pittodrie.
Matthews said: “The players have adapted well to what the gaffer wants us to do. Players like Nir Bitton and Stefan Johansen have really pushed on and shown what great players they are.
“I’m sure the gaffer will want to bring in another couple of players and, hopefully, they can gel. I’m sure we can go on and keep doing well for the next few years.
“We struggled a bit at the start of the season, but when a new manager comes in it takes a bit of time to adapt to what he wants to do.
“But especially since Christmas we’ve been near enough unstoppable.
“The manager has been brilliant and we’ve shown that the system of play he has brought in is very effective and we are very hard to beat.
“He’s a bit more tactical and works more on shape than we were used to under Neil Lennon. Most of the time he just let us get on with it and that worked for us as well. The gaffer’s a bit more laid back. Sometimes you need to be shouted at and he has done that this season. He’s been brilliant.
“It’s the first time I’ve been at a club when the manager has changed, so it was a big change for me.
“But it didn’t take that long to adapt to what he wanted us to do and over the past couple of months we’ve shown what he required and we’ve been winning most games.”
Matthews also believes Celtic’s victory at Pittodrie in November – when they won with a last-minute Virgil van Dijk goal after Scott Brown had been sent off – was a pivotal point in the campaign and the stats certainly back him up.Deila’s team have won 21 of the 25 league games since then, losing only two.
The 23-year-old said: “That was a big turning point in the season. Since that game we’ve gone on a really good run and created a gap between us and Aberdeen in second place.
“It was a big game, but every time you go up there you know it’s going to be a tough game and this one will be no different.
“I’m sure they’ll go into it the same way they go into every game they play Celtic.
“We won’t be thinking: ‘That’s it, we’ve won the league’. We want to win EVERY game.”
