Chris Sutton hails Celtic’s ‘best player’ vs Aberdeen – and he didn’t pick Daizen Maeda

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That was rather impressive from Celtic, but it’s what everyone expected.

Celtic’s defeat to Hibernian at the weekend was a one-off and it was the perfect medicine that the players were pretty much straight back out there to put things right.

On Tuesday night, Celtic put five goals past Aberdeen and moved 16 points clear at the top of the Premiership table.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	28	23	3	2	82	15	67	72
2	RangersRangers	27	17	5	5	54	22	32	56
3	AberdeenAberdeen	28	12	5	11	36	44	-8	41
4	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	27	11	7	9	33	31	2	40

It was a sloppy opening by the champions, but then Daizen Maeda’s quick movement opened the scoring and Celtic didn’t look back.

By the half-time break, it was 3-0 and, when the full-time whistle blew, the Hoops had netted five and the only disappointment was conceding right at the death.

One man who is starting to come into his own – Arne Engels – was given his flowers by Chris Sutton.

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Chris Sutton lauds Arne Engels as Celtic thrash Aberdeen

Despite the competition in the middle of the park, Engels has been a regular starter this season, alongside Reo Hatate and Callum McGregor.

The rising Belgium star was part of the XI that looked off-colour at Easter Road, but against Aberdeen, Sutton thinks he was ‘the best player’, as he told Sky Sports Football (25/02/25 at 9:15 pm).

Engels helped himself to two assists and Sutton explained how he is growing and growing following his club-record transfer in the summer.

“Reo Hatate looks fatigued,” said Sutton. “Engels has looked anything but. He has covered some ground. He is really coming into his game in a Celtic jersey.

“I think he has been the best player on the park, I really do, Arne Engels – he did his job really, really well.”

Engels’ stats for Celtic against Aberdeen

It’s not easy coming in for big money because there is already extra pressure on your shoulders and fans tend to be impatient with you.

But Engels has dealt with it all very well and is starting to come into his own, including a rating of 8.53 from WhoScored against the Dons.

That front three – Jota, Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn – speaks and picks itself – it’s what Rodgers should go for in the long run.

And you can say the same for that midfield – Hatate, McGregor and Engels – as the key now is to keep all these players for next season.