Celtic find themselves in an unlikely top-of-the-table clash next weekend.
Brendan Rodgers’ side will travel to Tynecastle to face Hearts, who are five points ahead of them in the table.
Even if the match is too early in the season to be a must-win, it feels like a must-not-lose for the Hoops’ momentum, after a poor defeat to Dundee last weekend.
Derek McInnes’ side have won seven and drawn one of their eight league matches, including wins against Rangers at Ibrox, Kilmarnock at Rugby Park and Hibernian in the Edinburgh Derby, all with clean sheets.
They have every reason to come into their meeting with Celtic full of confidence – and their Chief Executive Officer, Andrew McKinlay, has echoed this.
Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay on Celtic fixture
The prospect of going eight points clear in late October is alien to non-Glasgow clubs in the Scottish Premiership.
Given the strength of Celtic’s squad, it’s an unlikely situation. But Rodgers’ side have been consistently unconvincing this season, and Rangers are in a mess.
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McInnes has played down talk of a title race, despite talk emerging in Scotland and beyond. No team other than Celtic or Rangers has won the Scottish title since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1985.
But for Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay, speaking to the club’s media channels, Sunday is an opportunity to make a statement of intent.
He said: “I know Celtic will come here all guns blazing, they’re not a club that like what happened to them last weekend, they won’t take it lightly, they’ve obviously got a European game coming on Thursday.
“But we should go into this, and we will go into this, with huge huge confidence. I don’t think there’ll be any talk of free hits or anything like that.
“That’s not the way I see it, I know it won’t be the way Derek or the players see it. They’ll see it as a huge opportunity to really put a marker down, and I really, really hope we can do it.
“We’ve got as good a chance as we’ve had in a long time to really show that we deserve to be where we are at the top of the league, and I’d love it if we could obviously continue there for a long time to come.”
A 17-minute interview from the club’s CEO. That’s certainly alien to Celtic fans.
Celtic’s preparation to face Hearts
As McKinlay mentions, Celtic’s Europa League match against Sturm Graz on Thursday will have an impact. Hearts do not have European action.
It would’ve been handy for the Celts to have racked up more than one point from their two matches in the competition so far, in order to reduce the level of importance on Thursday’s fixture.
The fitness of Alistair Johnston and Daizen Maeda will also be crucial. Both players aren’t thought to be far away from full fitness, but missed the Dundee defeat.
It would be foolish to ever write Rodgers off, and Sunday is an opportunity for him and many players to prove the doubters wrong, and burst Hearts’ bubble. It’s a mouth-watering tie.
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