BRENDAN RODGERS and his players will arrive at Tannadice tomorrow afternoon with a single-minded approach to the encounter with Dundee United.
The champions have seen their title celebrations stalled, but they fully intend to make up for that by returning from Tayside with the club’s fourth successive Premiership crown and their thirteenth flag in 14 years.
An unlikely defeat against relegation-haunted St Johnstone in Perth almost three weeks ago put the celebrations on hold.
Rodgers anticipates a rigorous challenge from Jim Goodwin’s team and said: “We know where we’re at, we know what we need to do and we know that we want to leave Tannadice as the champions.
“And, for that we need to perform.
“We’d have liked it to have been at home, that was our grievance a few weeks ago, but that’s well behind us now.
“I think any time you win the league, of course it’s special and you would love to do it if you can in front of your own supporters ideally, but, whenever you win it, you win it.
“So, we don’t want to delay it any longer than we have to, but, for that we have to perform.”
Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “This season has been so satisfying in many ways for me and I’ve loved seeing us evolve as a team and develop as a team.
“I’ve enjoyed seeing us bounce back from the setbacks we’ve had and I’ve enjoyed seeing the players now get very close to feeling their reward for all of the sacrifice that they make, because they are an incredible group of professional players who come in to train and to work every single day.
“They don’t look for any easy days, they don’t look for any easy games – sometimes we haven’t been at our best for whatever reason, but it’s certainly not through the honesty of the group.”
The Hoops gaffer, bidding for his fourth title in charge of the Parkhead club, added: “We’re at that point of the season now, we’re very close, five games to go, a Cup Final to look forward to and we really want to finish the season strong.
“And I’ve always felt from my first time here, if you’re going to win, try to win in the best way that you possibly can – and that’s what we want to do this season.”
Rodgers won’t need anyone to tell him his team will have put in a far superior performance than the one at the same venue before the turn of the year that saw them limp through a stale goalless draw.
It’s highly unlikely there will be an unwanted repeat on this occasion.
