Neil Lennon has a five-game plan to ensure that Celtic enjoy a very Happy New Year.
With the League Cup secured for another season and a seeded place in tomorrow’s Europa Cup booked in advance the hoops boss is turning his full focus to a crash course of five SPFL Premiership matches over 15 days.
Lennon had one eye on that run of fixtures when he left half a dozen regulars out of the squad that flew to Romania with the big hitters expected to be in place for today’s visit from Hibs.
Most managers stick to the mantra of one game at a time but with such a concentrated run of fixtures coming up the hoops boss can vary slightly from that theme.
Speaking to The Sun Lennon said:
Extending our lead over the coming games is the incentive. We want to win them all. It’s no easy task and we’ll try to take them one at a time.
It’s a big week. Hibs, Hearts away, Aberdeen at home — they are three really important games. Hibs are up first and they had a great win at the weekend so they’ll come in buoyant but we’re buoyant as well. We must maintain our energy and focus.
We are back to five big games we want to win and maintain our consistency at domestic level, which has been obviously very good. I hope we can maintain that because we are getting pushed.
Hibs arrive at Celtic Park on the back of a 3-0 home win over Aberdeen with Jack Ross looking to cement their place in the top six.
New Hearts boss Daniel Stendel has to raise his squad for the visit of the champions on Wednesday on the back of a 1-0 home defeat from St Johnstone.