Celtic have opened up a commanding lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership after beating Hibs 3-0 at Parkhead this weekend.
Aberdeen’s draw with St Johnstone and with Rangers still to play Ross County up at Dingwall this afternoon meant that Celtic are now nine points ahead of Jimmy Thelin’s side and 14 up on the Ibrox club at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
Celtic took care of a Hibs team who started the game looking like they had real intent of not just sitting back and trying to soak up the pressure but making a genuine attempt to win the game.
Hibs missed three early Celtic Park chances to take the lead before Arne Engels opened up the scoring with Celtic’s first chance in the sixth minute.
In the end, a Joe Newell own goal and a superb Kyogo Furuhashi sealed the win over Hibs but it was far from easy for Celtic as the Easter Road club created plenty of chances to take something from the game.
Which is why former Celtic striker, Chris Sutton’s verdict on the Hibs win is surprising.
Chris Sutton asks if the title race is ‘over already’ after unusual Celtic verdict vs Hibs
Sutton is known for his forthright and upfront opinions on Celtic whether they win or lose but would many agree with his summation of the Hoops win?
Sutton told BBC 606 [4m], “Celtic beat Hibs 3-0. Brendan Ball once again getting over the line comfortably.
“Nine points clear of the biggest challengers Aberdeen. Is the league over already?”
The win was far from comfortable as Hibs continued to press Celtic and create chances in the first half which made Brendan Rodgers do something he rarely does at half time.
Three reasons why Celtic’s win over Hibs was far from ‘comfortable’
Whilst the stats show Celtic controlled the game, Hibs still had 14 shots on goal with nine of those on target which is unheard of from any team visiting Parkhead this season.
To put that into perspective when Celtic beat Rangers the Ibrox club had 12 shots with just three on target and in the Bhoys’ draw against Aberdeen Jimmy Thelin’s side fashioned eight shots with just two on target.
The second reason is that Kasper Schmeichel was Celtic’s man of the match in yesterday’s win. The big Dane made nine saves to keep a clean sheet against the capital club which is, again, unheard of from a visiting team.
The third was what Brendan Rodgers did at half-time. The Celtic boss took off his main goal threat in Nicolas Kuhn and replaced him with James Forrest after Hibs gave the Hoops’ right-hand side some problems in the first half.
And that worked. Ten minutes later Celtic’s goal came from a corner won on that side of the park and Forrest created another assist for Kyogo’s goal that sealed all three points.
Comfortable? The scoreline suggests that but what actually happened during the game shows that Sutton is a wee bit off with his view of the game.
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