CELTIC boss Neil Lennon is hoping it’s home sweet home when the champions take on Hearts at Parkhead this evening.
The Hoops are out to maintain their seven-point advantage at the Premiership pinnacle in a top v bottom battle against the Edinburgh strugglers.
It’s only their second game in the east end of Glasgow since returning after the mid-winter break – the first was the 3-0 win over Ross County last month.
There have been four consecutive matches on their travels at St Johnstone (3-0), Hamilton (4-1), Motherwell (3-0) and Clyde (3-0) as the champions have raced through 2020 with a 100 per cent record.
Lennon, speaking to the club website, said: “I’m really pleased with the form that we’re in and I’m really pleased with the form of some of the individual players as well, so we just want to build momentum and keep it going.
“It’s a home game and our home form has been superb this season, but we’re not taking anything for granted.”
It’s the third meeting between the sides this season, with the Hoops having won the two previous encounters – 3-1 in Glasgow in August and then 2-0 at Tynecastle in December.
The Hoops gaffer added: “Hearts had a good window and brought in some good players. We know Liam Boyce from his time at Ross County and I know him from when he was a young player in Belfast, so he’s a talented player.
“Toby Sibbick looks like a good find, as well, and obviously, under Daniel Stendel it’s going to be a new style of play and new principles.
“It’ll be a test. Daniel’s a positive, forward-thinking manager and I think the game may be open.
“We will certainly try and attack, and we’ll be ready for whatever Hearts try to throw at us. Sometimes teams sit in, but sometimes teams come and have a go, so we’ll see how that pans out.”
The first meeting of the teams in this campaign saw Vakoun Issouf Bayo “robbed” of two strikes when the SFA decided they were own goals by Tyencastle defenders Christophe Berra and Craig Halkett. Callum McGregor claimed the other with a sizzling low drive.
Ryan Christie and Olivier Ntcham were the marksmen in Edinburgh just before the turn of the year.
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