CELTIC go into Sunday’s game against St Mirren in Paisley with a 100 per cent Premiership record after six successive wins and a goal haul of 25 with only one conceded.
They are five points clear at the top of the league, but that could alter after events at Ibrox tomorrow afternoon where Dundee United, thrashed 9-0 at home by the champions last month, will provide the opposition.
Confidence is high at Parkhead and there is only one player, Carl Starfelt, ruled out through injury.
Callum McGregor and Co have been relentless in the pursuit of a second successive title.
A BIG HAND…Ange Postecoglou acknowledges the acclaim from the fans after another Celtic win – but he is still looking for his team to improve.
But perfectionist Ange Postecoglou will demand an IMPROVEMENT when they take the field for the noon kick-off against Stephen Robinson’s team.
The 57-year-old Greek-Australian gaffer said: “It will be a good challenge, a tough challenge. St Mirren had a decent start to the year and it’s always a difficult place to go to.
“We’re ready for it, our league form’s been really good and we’ve improved every time we’ve gone out there.
“Our focus is making sure we go out there on Sunday and improve on our league performances so far and keep our league form going.
“The game could potentially go a different way to the Champions League games go, but, in terms of the underlying stuff, we still focus on the same things about dominating the game and dominating where the game’s played and making sure we’re always aggressive in our approach.
“We took that into the Champions League games and coming back to the league is no different for us. So whatever the differences may be, the answers still lie within us concentrating on the basic fundamentals of how we want to play.”
ON THE RUN…Sead Haksabanovic made his first start in midweek and could get the green light to face St Mirren in Paisley on Sunday.
Players such as Sead Haksabanovic, who made his first start in the 1-1 draw with Shaktar Donetsk in Warsaw in midweek, David Turnbull, Aaron Mooy and Anthony Ralston could be given an extended appearance against the Saints.
Postecoglou, speaking to the Celtic TV, continued: “Obviously, with last weekend’s game being called off, there was probably a rotation in there for some of the players who haven’t played and we would have come out of this first group of games with everyone getting some decent game-time, but that never happened.
“But we know after the international break that we’ve got 10 or 11 games in about 35 days, so we’re going to need everybody and there’s no doubt the team will change through that process. And, again, it’s about having everyone ready.
“If you remember the Ross County game, I made nine changes and the level of our performance was excellent on the night. We would probably have done something similar last weekend.
“So, we’re still gearing up to what’s ahead – and what’s ahead is that we’re going to require a real strong squad of players. We won’t be able to rely on just 11 or 12 to get us through it.”
The Hoops boss added: “You know that players will go away at international level. It’s a bit different this year because we’ll only have the one break and then it’s the World Cup.
“We know it’s important to the players and the pleasing thing for us is that a lot of it is on this side of the world. This time, Japan are having their games in Europe, so that mitigates the travel factor for our boys.
“We’re going to come up to a pretty intense period after it, so probably them being away from the football club and just being in a different environment will hopefully freshen them up and they come back ready to go.”
