‘It has flipped now’… Celtic’s title chances evaluated as John Hartson outlines non-negotiable

Celtic are in action against Heart of Midlothian this weekend knowing they have no margin for error in the race for the Scottish Premiership title race.

Last time out, the Bhoys managed to navigate by a stubborn Dundee outfit at Dens Park, where James Forrest’s experience shone through as he plundered two fierce strikes past Jon McCracken to grant his side a narrow victory.

In his post-match press conference, Brendan Rodgers immediately signalled his excitement at facing Hearts in front of a full house, given the importance of making home advantage count with league fixtures whittling down.

He stated: “I am really excited about next week against Hearts at Celtic Park. 60,000, the atmosphere will be amazing, the pitch will be amazing, and hopefully, we can play a level of Football and get another really good result.”

Following our bout with Steven Naismith’s men, Rangers, Kilmarnock and St Mirren stand between Celtic and Scottish Premiership glory; however, nothing can be taken for granted at Parkhead, as we have seen in different periods of this term.

Rodgers’ side has been eight points ahead and five points behind, though now sit three points clear with a positive goal differential of five compared to their city rivals.

John Hartson on Celtic’s non-negotiable in the title race

Momentum has been thrown back and forth this year between both sides of the Glasgow divide; however, Celtic are now the side in the ascendency at the time of writing.

Nevertheless, former Hoops striker John Hartson doesn’t think that anything is set in stone and has urged his former club to be wary of dropping points in their fixtures outside of our upcoming Glasgow Derby showdown next weekend.

He stated [Cited via The Daily Record]: “Rangers were expected to win the last Old Firm Game. They were all over it, with fans saying, ‘we’re going to win this’. There was no away crowd, everything was against Celtic. It has flipped now and Celtic are in a good position.

“The way the season has gone, there’s been a lot of twists. At the start you would have said Celtic were favourites, and especially early on with all that happened with Michael Beale.

“But Philippe Clement came in and they went on a fantastic run. But they had a really poor month, and that opened the door. It’s up to the Celtic to drive through it.

“Nothing is done yet but I just think Celtic are slight favourites with the three home Games. But they need to win the Games irrespective of the Rangers match. They’ve lost to Kilmarnock and Hearts this season, so they can’t take anything for granted.

It goes without saying, but Celtic need to adopt a meticulous approach in their final four league matches to ensure Rodgers can enjoy a successful first campaign back in the saddle.

Defeating Hearts this weekend by any means viable will be crucial to that, as we could put the pressure on Rangers by opening up a six-point gap at the summit ahead of their home clash against Kilmarnock the following day.