John Hartson has stood by his prediction that Celtic will win the league by 15 points.
The Hoops stretched their margin at the top of the Premiership to 10 points on Sunday. The 1-0 win at Dens Park meant that Neil Lennon had scooped up his third win in four games. More importantly, however, it whittled the remaining games down to eight.
The 10-point advantage is the highest Celtic have been clear of their Glasgow rivals this season. And with a match between the two sides coming up at Celtic Park, it could very well be a 13-point advantage heading into two extremely winnable clashes against St Mirren and Livingston respectively.
Hartson has clearly seen enough, however, to believe Celtic will extend their advantage. Backing up a claim he made previously, the Celtic hero commented on the title race in the Evening Times.
“I said at the start of the season that Celtic would win the title by at least 15 points and they are pretty firmly on course to do that.
“I also think that going into the game against Rangers straight after the international break there just isn’t the same pressure on Celtic to have to go and get a result.
“There will be juicy games after the split too and I think there is ample scope for points to be dropped at that stage because the likes of Kilmarnock under Steve Clarke and Aberdeen under Derek McInnes have shown themselves to be really astute this term.”
12 is the magic number for Celtic
In order to ensure that no progress has been made by Rangers, 12 is actually the magic number.
The Hoops ended the 2017/18 campaign 12 points clear of their Glasgow rivals. Yet, despite the heavy investment by Rangers on Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox shake-up, they’re still on course to finish just as far behind Celtic or perhaps even further.
Just a win over the Ibrox side at Parkhead and Celtic will have surpassed the gap from last season. Whether it means anything to you or not, it would still be a positive sign.
But performances have to improve under Neil Lennon. Celtic were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Aberdeen, and needed last-minute goals to avoid slip-ups in two of Lennon’s other three matches in charge.
Everything points to the Glasgow derby at Parkhead. A Hoops win and it cements their status as runaway leaders. Anything other than that and it won’t be too disastrous, but it would be massive pain in the neck for Celtic fans.
Hartson looks on course for his prediction. If he’s right, then Celtic can be satisfied in that they’ve had another terrific season.
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