67 Hail Hail tells BBC man who are the title favourites after Martin O’Neill’s Celtic return

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Martin O’Neill’s return to Celtic has instilled immediate confidence in the players and the fans about defending the title this season.

Under Wilfried Nancy, Celtic’s title bid looked doomed after losing six fixtures in eight. Losing four Scottish Premiership fixtures from six totally derailed the Hoops’ season.

However, now that O’Neill is back, Celtic battered Dundee United 4-0 just over three weeks on from the defeat at Tannadice.

And speaking about the result, I made an appearance on BBC Sportsound to deliver 67 Hail Hail’s prediction on who is the title favourites after watching the Celtic Park win at the weekend.

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Celtic have a ‘very, very good’ chance of beating Rangers and Hearts to the title

Host, Kenny MacIntyre asked me who I thought were the title favourites from Celtic, Hearts and Rangers after the Bhoys’ result against Dundee United.

I told BBC Sportsound, “Well, Kenny, you’re asking a Celtic fan to talk about Hearts and Rangers.”

MacIntyre: “Okay, you’re obviously feeling more confident than you were a week ago.

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I replied, “I mean, if you asked me a week ago, it was down between, I think, if Nancy stayed between Hearts and Rangers without a shadow of a doubt.

“I think bringing Martin O’Neill back doesn’t make us favourites, but it certainly gives us a better chance of defending the title.

“On current form, I mean, am I right in saying that Rangers are probably the team on form right now? I think points-wise.

“So if you want to go with that, I think they would be the favourites after beating us at Celtic Park. But I think that performance today, beating Dundee United 4-0 and how easy it was, it shows how the immediate boost in confidence the team seemed to have on O’Neill returning, I think it puts Celtic in a very, very good place.”

You can listen to it below:

Celtic’s next two fixtures are huge for the title race

Celtic are six points behind Hearts and three behind Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership table right now.

With Falkirk up next at Parkhead on Wednesday night, Celtic’s next two fixtures are crucial, especially with Hearts at home to St Mirren.

If the Bhoys can beat Falkirk and Hearts lose to St Mirren, Celtic will have the chance to go top of the league if O’Neill can mastermind a win over Derek McInnes’ side at Tynecastle on the 25th of January.

Of course, goal difference plays a big part in that with Hearts +5 on Celtic but depending on how results go, there is a real opportunity for O’Neill to put the Hoops in the driving seat before February kicks in.