Celtic might not have been at the top of their game against Hearts, when the two sides met at Parkhead, but at no point of time did they seem to be in any real trouble either. The Hoops came into the match knowing that three points would send them to the top of the Premiership table, two ahead of the Rangers, and they put in a professional display and got the job done.
Kyogo and Giorgos Giakoumakis have been in stunning form in recent times, and they continued to find the back of the net. The Japanese star got the opener early on while the Greek striker got the second deep into stoppage time to put the result beyond any doubt.
Another major storyline coming out of the game were the two red cards that Hearts received. Alex Cochrane and Toby Sibbick were sent off, in the 89th and 91st minute of the game. Robbie Neilson’s side had zero shots on target on the day though and it is unlikely that the sending offs had any real impact on the result of the match.
Neilson did not seem happy with the refereeing on the day though. As reported by the Daily Record, the Hearts manager said:
"“When you come here, you need strong referees and if you don’t get that it can lead to difficult times. We made 11 fouls, had two red cards and five bookings. Celtic made 12 fouls and got nothing.“So that is the difficulty when you come here to Glasgow. You need that strength and I don’t think we had it. We need decisions to go our way as well because there are times when they don’t when you come here. That’s only natural.“The crowd noise and the pressure, you don’t get these big decisions. We just need to deal with it. It works for us at Tynecastle. When we come through here, sometimes it doesn’t work.”"
Neilson makes massive claim about referees after Hearts suffer loss vs Celtic
The thing about those statistics is that there is no real context to it. Every foul is different and when it comes to the two red cards, they seemed to be pretty straightforward decisions.
Celtic had their reasons to be unsatisfied with the refereeing on the day as well, but ultimately, it did not have an effect on the result of the game.
Following the game, Celtic find themselves at the top of the table, having won all four of their games till now. Their next match is away against Dundee United. On the other hand, Hearts have slipped down to fourth.