Celtic have gone into the World Cup break sitting a brilliant nine points ahead of the Rangers in the title race. It goes without saying that Ange Postecoglou must be delighted with how far ahead his team are in the Premiership. But they cannot rest on their laurels, as there is a lot of football left to be played and things can change very quickly, especially with three more Glasgow derbies remaining in the league.
The World Cup break could act as the great equaliser as well. With such a huge gap in between, when club football returns, it will be almost like a completely different season.
Thus, everybody associated with the Rangers would surely be hoping that it ends up disrupting the momentum that Celtic had built up, giving the Ibrox club a chance to catch up with their Glasgow rivals.
Joe Hart does not believe that this Celtic side relies on momentum though. As reported by Glasgow Live, the English goalkeeper said:
"“We don’t rely on momentum. We don’t rely on anything other than training hard and trying to express ourselves in the best way possible.“It’s been an incredible effort. The unique schedule with the World Cup meant there was going to be some inconsistent results.“But we managed to really battle through it domestically to put ourselves in a strong position. We were six points or so back last year before Christmas so it’s not something we take for granted.“Like the manager says, we’ll run our own race. It’s such a simple way to view it, but it’s the right way to live. If you start worrying about things you can’t control then you waste energy.“It’s been a powerful start – but we live game to game. That will continue. The focus and the energy is there. We’ve had to dig deep and we’ve showed a different side of us in a couple of games. Now we can enjoy this trip and hopefully be ready when he get back.”"
Hart sends clear Celtic message to Rangers
Believe it or not, Celtic were not in great form either, leading up to the World Cup break. Yes, they were winning games in the league consistently, but it was more a matter of their incredible spirit and ability to dig out results.
When it comes to the overall performances and putting the ball into the back of the net, they were not as dominant. That was understandable as well with many key players missing through injury at one point or another.
Thus, the World Cup break might have come up at the perfect point for them as well. It gives them the chance to rest up, recharge their batteries and go into the second half of the season with more players available. Let’s see how things play out.