Jonny Hayes makes brutally honest Celtic admission

Celtic will be looking to get their Premiership title defence off to the best start possible, when they welcome Aberdeen to Parkhead on Flag Day. While the Rangers stumbled out of the gates, they were able to get a comeback 2-1 win over Livingston and have put three points on the board. Now, the onus is on Ange Postecoglou’s side to make sure that they don’t slip up.

Aberdeen have made a bright start to this season and Jim Goodwin’s side are capable of springing a surprise on their day. Thus, Celtic must be careful that they don’t end up dropping points against the Dons.

Celtic made a terrible start to their Premiership campaign last season, losing three of their first six league games, and they must look to avoid that this time around.

Jonny Hayes is someone who knows what it takes to defend titles at Celtic, as he was part of three Premiership-winning campaigns with the club. And as reported by Aberdeen’s official website, he has made a brutally honest admission heading into the game at Parkhead:

"“It’s a very different test on Sunday and we’re all aware of that. No disrespect, but a couple of the teams we’ve played in the League Cup are part-time where now, we’re going away to the team that are the champions. That’s probably the toughest fixture in the calendar on paper.”"

Hayes makes brutally honest Celtic admission before season opener

Hayes might be 35 years of age, but he is still going strong for Aberdeen. He has made a bright start to this season and is expected to continue playing a big part for the Dons.

He has been part of quite a few Flag Days in his time and he will know how the atmosphere will be on the occasion. This season is even more highly anticipated for the Hoops as they are set to make their return to the Champions League group stage after several years as well.

Thus, they are expected to be keen to come out of the gates strong. At the same time though, they did have a few issues in pre-season and it will be interesting to see if they have been able to work those out.