Each Celtic match is increasingly turning into a question of not if they will win or even when but by how many; the Bhoys canter into Saturday’s match on the back of 13 consecutive victories across all competitions.
Hearts put up a brave resolve when travelling to Glasgow in the league last midweek, but the Premiership’s third-placed side were swatted away at Tynecastle by Celtic in Saturday’s Scottish FA Cup quarter-final, setting up an Old Firm clash in the competition’s semi-finals.
Playing a full-throttle, high-pressing game which is fully ingrained in the squad after 18 months of Postecoglou at the helm, Celtic’s goal tally has ballooned to 90 in the top flight alone – more than double Hibernian’s tally of 44.
The Bhoys only need two more goals this weekend to match the haul they accrued across the entirety of last season and, with 10 games still to play, will surely be targeting the 106 that Brendan Rodgers’s unbeaten side racked up in 2017.
While Celtic are battling away with the record books, Hibs have their city rivals in their sights as the Edinburgh outfit sit fourth, five points behind Hearts.
When Hibs lost the Edinburgh derby to Hearts in their first game of 2023, the green half of the capital were slumped in eighth place – however, Lee Johnson inspired his side to a seven-game unbeaten league run thereafter which was only punctured by Rangers last Wednesday.
Spurred on by a spine-tingling atmosphere as Easter Road honoured the club’s late owner Ron Gordon, Hibs took an eighth-minute lead against the Gers before Michael Beale’s side responded emphatically, romping to a one-sided 4-1 victory which left Johnson insisting his players “need to step up” after an error-strewn display.
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Hibs have repeatedly failed to meet the mark set by Celtic, shipping 10 goals across their two meetings with the Glasgow giants this season, including a 6-1 mauling on their previous visit to Parkhead.
Celtic are unbeaten in their last 16 home games against Hibs, winning 13 in that sequence which began after a 2-1 reverse all the way back in January 2010.
Celtic centre-back Carl Starfelt was forced off halfway through his side’s cup victory over Hearts last weekend with a hip flexor issue, which Postecoglou was quick to play down.
James Forrest scored a hat-trick to take his career tally to 100 Celtic goals the last time these clubs met at Parkhead but is expected to be stuck on the sidelines with a muscular problem alongside long-term absentee James McCarthy.
