Considering 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 – you would be forgiven for being confused by the talk of crisis in the east end of Glasgow.

However, Sunday’s convincing win in Motherwell has quickly been overshadowed by Thursday’s 4-1 Europa League defeat by Benfica.

It is not often that a Celtic side have suffered four losses in their latest five outings, with their manager having considered his position only a couple of weeks ago before deciding to carry on, and with the club also at loggerheads with sections of their fan base.

Martin O’Neill, though, is stressing the quality of their hosts and taking positives from an improved second-half display in Lisbon.

Indeed, Celtic will still be strong favourites on Sunday to extend the five-point gap between themselves and the third-place visitors – and it must be remembered that the other losses came against second-place Rangers (twice) and Ferencvaros rather than lesser Scottish sides.

If Hearts are going to be title challengers again under Wouter Vrancken, just as they were under Derek McInnes last season, this is the time to start improving on their record of only winning twice in their past 11 away league games, all without a clean sheet.

The most painful of their six defeats in that period came on their last visit to Celtic Park, when the hosts ended Hearts’ three-game unbeaten run against them to overtake the long-time leaders on the final day of last season.

They have, though, won twice in their past six visits to Celtic Park and are currently on a run of one defeat in 13 overall, albeit they will be disappointed to have conceded a late equaliser in their Conference League opener at home to Danish side Nordsjaelland.

It is Hearts’ forward line that has had most plaudits, but along with Rangers they have also faced fewer goal attempts than any side in the Premiership this season.

That record will be tested by a Celtic side who have had the most goal attempts, but it looks like O’Neill might have lost patience with Kasper Hogh, hinting that Camilo Duran will come off the wing to replace the misfiring Dane through the middle.

The weekend after a European game is often seen as the most vulnerable time for top clubs, so will Celtic’s extra travelling prove crucial?



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