Celtic’s unbeaten run finally ended on Sunday afternoon against Hearts, which could see Rangers and Aberdeen become involved in a title race.
Former Motherwell defender Stephen Craigan has made a bold claim in his BT Sport column that Celtic will have “encouraged” the chasing pack to close the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership following their defeat to Hearts.
Celtic were battered 4-0 by Hearts on Tynecastle which finally saw their 69-game unbeaten run come to an end, thanks to goals from Harry Cochrane, Kyle Lafferty and a brace from Manuel Malinkovic.
It leave the Hoops just two points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, with Aberdeen in second while Rangers are back in third with five points separating the Old Firm rivals ahead of Hogmanay’s bitter Glasgow derby.
Craigan applauded Celtic and Brendan Rodgers for their astonishing run, and does not believe the loss will stop them in their trophy hunt. However, the 41-year-old said Celtic’s title rivals will be buoyed by the loss and believe a title race is on the cards.
“The Hoops may have lost emphatically against Hearts but 69 domestic games unbeaten is incredible,” Craigan said.
“They have challenged every team in Scotland to be better and although it’s taken 18 months for one of them to finally crack the code, I genuinely see them being better equipped now to rise to the task again in future.
“This result won’t derail Celtic in their pursuit of trophies, but it may just encourage the rest of the top flight as they chase them down. We may have a title race after all.”
Celtic will be looking to bounce back from the huge defeat as they go up against Alan Archibald’s Partick Thistle on Wednesday night at Celtic Park, with the Hoops expected to secure a commanding result.
It should see Rodgers’ side restore their five-point gap at the top as they look to finally play their game in hand, with Rodgers expected to begin a new unbeaten run.
Partick have not beaten Celtic since May 1995, with the Bhoys since winning 23 of the two sides 25 meetings in all competitions.
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