Celtic are set to take on Hearts in back-to-back games. The first one will be in the Premiership at Parkhead. And the following one will be at Tynecastle Park in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. It goes without saying that both matches are very important for Ange Postecoglou’s side and the direction of their season.
On one hand, they are nine points ahead of the Rangers in the league, with 11 games to go. But they cannot afford to take their eye off the ball and drop points at this crucial stage. On the other hand, having already won the Scottish League Cup, the club will surely have half an eye on a potential treble.
Hearts are a very capable team when it comes to springing up a potential surprise though. Thus, Celtic will need to bring their A-game on both occasions.
On the other hand, it looks like Robbie Neilson has his eyes on winning. As reported by Edinburgh News, the Hearts manager said ahead of facing Celtic:
"“We go to Parkhead on Wednesday and we’ll be expected to win the game. Then the cup game after it we will be expected to win. It’s just about trying to win every week. That’s the standard we set.“We need to go there [on Wednesday] and try and win the game. We have a way of playing and we want to take that to Celtic, challenge ourselves against one of the top teams in the country. They are outstanding at the moment, have a great squad and good manager. It’s a hard place to go. If we go there and just bang it [long], we will get beat so we need to go and play the way we want to.”"
Neilson makes statement before Hearts take on Celtic
Hearts currently sit at third in the Premiership table right now. And Neilson’s side have clearly been the third best in Scotland, behind Celtic and the Rangers, for quite some time now.
They will go into the game against Celtic on the back of a 3-0 win over St Johnstone this weekend. And it remains to be seen what kind of strategy they take to Parkhead.
On the other hand, the match after that, at Tynecastle Park, will be even more important for Hearts, as it is a chance at potential silverware. Thus, Celtic can expect two tough fixtures and Postecoglou’s side cannot make the mistake of slipping up in either one of them.
Celtic faced a slight scare at St Mirren Park, trailing at half-time. But they were able to bounce back after the break and score five goals.