When the fixtures were announced this will have been one of the games that Brendan Rodgers noticed. If he had known then it was going to be a Saturday evening game, he might have been even more fearful of it.

Celtic overcame a shaky first-half display to defeat Hearts 4-1 at Tynecastle and move three points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the William Hill Premiership. The Hoops have been tracked by the Dons all season but the Pittodrie side’s first league defeat of the campaign away to St Mirren earlier in the day paved the way for Brendan Rodgers’ men – who had hitherto only been able to get ahead on goal difference – to assert their authority at the summit.