Celtic are ‘challengers’ and face a tough task says Chris Sutton
Celtic legend Chris Sutton has singled out the players he believes have to reach their full potential in order for Rangers to be caught.
Steven Gerrard’s side are 13 points ahead of their rivals in the title race, albeit having played two games more. With an unbeaten run in all competitions so far this season, few expect them to undergo the kind of post-December slump that they’ve succumbed to in the previous two campaigns.
That means Neil Lennon’s men have to be firing on all cylinders to stand any chance of reining them in, and results so far during this campaign have done little to inspire confidence on that front.
The champions have now won consecutive matches against Lille and Kilmarnock, however, and Lennon will be hoping that those victories inspire the sort of winning run that has evaded them in recent months.
Sutton, who won four league titles in his time at the club, believes there are certain key men within the squad who need to step up if Celtic are to have a chance of winning 10-in-a-row.
Speaking on the Record Celtic Podcast, Sutton said: “The supporters at this moment in time want to see the team build momentum, which is why when you come back to the importance of selecting the team, Neil (Lennon) shouldn’t be sentimental.
“He shouldn’t be thinking about the past and the players who got him there.
He needs to think about the future, and he needs to think about ‘What is the strongest team?’, nothing else, ‘What is the strongest eleven I can put out at the weekend to win the cup and carry on this momentum forward to challenge Rangers?’, because at this moment in time that’s what Celtic are.
“They are challengers to Rangers. Rangers are out there in the distance.
“If I was a Celtic player now I would be really concerned about the gap, about the games in hand, about the performances this season, but I would try to focus on players coming back to form.
“Christopher Jullien, big plus. Shane Duffy, last two games, he’s getting there.
“I would be thinking Odsonne Edouard has to click at some stage, and it has to click for Odsonne Edouard, because if it doesn’t click for Odsonne Edouard Celtic can not win the league in my opinion.
“So all these stars, they have to align at some stage. and that’s why continuity’s important.
“Don’t think about squad rotation, think about the next game. Grinding it out, becoming a relentless force week in, week out, and showing teams that this Celtic team is back to where they have been in previous seasons.”
Celtic face Hearts in the 2019/20 Scottish Cup Final on Sunday before resuming their Premiership campaign against Ross County on Wednesday 23rd.
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