Celtic lead the Premiership by two points and have won 14 of their past 15 league games, scoring at least twice in 11 of them. Yet talk of crisis surrounds the club after Sunday's convincing win in Motherwell was quickly overshadowed by Thursday's 4-1 Europa League defeat by Benfica. Celtic have suffered four losses in their latest five outings, and manager Martin O'Neill, who considered his position only a couple of weeks ago before deciding to carry on, is also at loggerheads with sections of the fan base.
O'Neill is stressing the quality of their hosts and taking positives from an improved second-half display in Lisbon. Celtic will still be strong favourites on Sunday to extend the five-point gap over third-place Hearts. Their other losses came against second-place Rangers (twice) and Ferencvaros rather than lesser Scottish sides.
If Hearts are to challenge for the title again under Wouter Vrancken, as they did under Derek Mc Innes last season, they must improve on their record of winning only twice in their past 11 away league games. Their most painful recent defeat came at Celtic Park, where the hosts ended Hearts' three-game unbeaten run to overtake the long-time leaders on the final day of last season.
Hearts' forward line has earned most of the plaudits, yet along with Rangers they have faced fewer goal attempts than any Premiership side this season. That record will be tested by a Celtic side with the most goal attempts, and O'Neill may have lost patience with Kasper Hogh, hinting that Camilo Duran will move through the middle.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing