Celtic moved one step closer to securing European football this season after claiming a comfortable 2-0 victory at home to AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Wednesday night.
Summer signing Kyogo Furuhashi scored his sixth goal in as many matches to fire the Hoops into a 12th-minute lead before a second-half strike from James Forrest deflected off Timo Letschert, giving the hosts a two-goal advantage heading into next week’s second leg.
This victory made it five in a row for new boss Ange Postecoglou, who praised his side’s perseverance at Parkhead as they took control of their crucial European tie.
Celtic have enjoyed the start of the new campaign on home soil, winning their last four matches by an aggregate score of 14-2.
They can also take confidence into their Premiership encounter against St Mirren, having won 21 of the last 24 meetings against them, scoring 61 goals and keeping 18 clean sheets in the process.
The Hoops did, however, lose their last game at home against the Buddies, who claimed a surprise 2-1 win in January.
Postecoglou now seems to have Celtic on the right track and will be looking to build on their good form with another three points on Saturday.
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St Mirren, meanwhile, are still searching for their first league win after they followed up a 2-2 draw against Dundee on the opening day with a 2-1 loss at home to newly-promoted Hearts.
Since then, Jim Goodwin’s men also suffered defeat in the second round of the Scottish League Cup, losing 4-3 on penalties to Livingston after a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes.
The Buddies lost to the Lions in the semi-finals of this competition last season, and they were unable to get revenge as spot-kick misses from Curtis Main, Cameron MacPherson and Kyle McAllister condemned the visitors to defeat.
