Celtic maintained their excellent start to 2020 with a Scottish Premiership win tonight.
Celtic have maintained their five-point lead at the top of the league tonight with a dominant 3-0 victory over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
It seems that the Scottish champions have firmly put December derby defeat behind them, winning their first four matches after the return from the mid-season winter break.
A stunning first-half performance ensured they rushed to a three-goal lead by the interval, but in truth it could have been a far larger lead, with Neil Lennon’s Bhoys creating so many chances.
Olivier Ntcham, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths all found themselves on the scoresheet after some classy team moves and combinations.
Celtic had a lethal edge tonight that hasn’t been seen for quite a while.
It was a display that left BBC Scotland’s punditry team impressed too.
Pat Bonner, speaking on Radio Scotland (29/01 live match page, 19:58 & 20:36), said of the first-half performance: “It was a wonderful goal from Celtic.
“We talked about that link up play between Edouard and Griffiths and it was there in abundance, lovely little interchanging play to send Forrest down the right and there was Ntcham running in beyond the strikers to put in a powerful header.
“The tempo, the sharpness, the passing, the movement. Everybody is flying today, everybody is looking for the ball and moving it with their one, two-touch passing with real excitement. A brilliant performance from Celtic so far.”
Former Rangers man Billy Dodds couldn’t help but praise the team either, remarking to the broadcaster (29/01 live match page, 20:17 & 20:26): “St Johnstone are totally dumbstruck. They’re rabbits in the headlights, they really are. But you can’t take away from Celtic; the quality, the goals, the passing.
“I bet Celtic can’t believe how much room they have in midfield. Brown, McGregor, Ntcham are all finding space as St Johnstone don’t have the numbers in there, it’s as simple as that.”
For the title chasers, it’ll now be about maintaining their consistency in coming matches.
They are on the road again for the next three matches against Hamilton, Motherwell and Clyde and victories will be expected.
Lennon will a happy man tonight though, seeing some fringe players from the first part of the season like Greg Taylor and Griffiths play prominent roles.
With new signings Patryk Klimala and Ismaila Soro yet to show their worth, the Hoops could be more threatening than ever over the coming months.
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