Scottish Premiership star admits Celtic troubles as he shares why Bhoys are on ‘different level’

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Celtic’s domestic form this campaign has been imperious and nobody in Scotland has been able to get close to a result against Brendan Rodgers’ men.

With the Bhoys top of the Scottish Premiership and into the semi-final of the Premier Sports Cup, all the signposts look positive as they aim for another successful season involving silverware.

Cementing Celtic’s excellent domestic start, Brendan Rodgers became September’s Scottish Premiership Manager of the Month. This has dovetailed nicely from a productive pre-season in which victories over Chelsea and Manchester City set the tone.

The Irishman will be keen to move on from the Bhoys’ Champions League defeat in Dortmund on Tuesday, becoming the only blip in an otherwise perfect beginning to Rodgers’ second term back in the hot seat.

Others seem to have sat up and taken notice of Celtic, with Hibernian defender Marvin Ekpiteta recounting his own difficulties against the reigning champions back in August.

Marvin Ekpiteta on Celtic being a ‘different level’ to face

Speaking to The Scotsman, Hibernian summer signing Ekpiteta has admitted he didn’t realise how good Celtic were and has expanded on why the experience was a wake-up call within his expectations of Scottish football.

He stated when asked about what he has noticed about life north of the border: “I’d say the work rate. A lot of the teams don’t give you any time at all. They’re just on it for the whole game. I’d say that’s the biggest change from last season.

“And obviously playing against Celtic, they’re just a different level. I didn’t realise how good they actually were until I played against them. That was a big wake-up call for me.

“I think it was actually good playing them so early to get that out of the way, and then you can build on playing against other teams.”

Celtic continue to be Scottish football’s benchmark

Some people may look upon this as arrogance, but as the team that has won 12 of the last 13 Scottish Premiership titles, only Celtic can be deemed as the benchmark for others to reach in this country.

Yes, the Bhoys evidently have a way to go in the Champions League, though, with three points already on the board, they still have the potential to have a great league phase campaign.

Being still yet to concede a single goal is the main talking point from their opening six league fixtures. However, 20 goals in that timeframe is also very impressive, it is hard to know what is more remarkable.

Either way, the task for Celtic is to keep their imperious domestic form going, starting with Ross County away on Sunday.