Celtic opened up a gap at the top of the Premiership for the first time this season, as they took full advantage of Aberdeen’s slip up at St Mirren earlier in the day to go three points clear with a stunning second half display to defeat Hearts in the capital.
Much to the mirth of their supporters, the victory at Tynecastle also opened up an 11-point gap to struggling city rivals Rangers.
After a hard-fought first half in which Hearts looked the more dangerous side, Kyogo Furuhashi ruthlessly took advantage of an error from Daniel Oyegoke to put Celtic ahead, before man of the moment Nicolas Kuhn smashed home a quickfire second to extinguish any hopes of a Hearts comeback.
Adam Idah came off the bench to grab a third, and hammer home the point that this Celtic side are not only now clear at the top of the table, but clear of any domestic opposition once they click into gear.
Musa Drammeh pulled one back for Hearts late on, but Jorge Grant’s trip on James Forrest allowed Idah to put the icing on the cake with his second from the penalty spot.
Here are the talking points from Tynecastle…
Catch them if you can
Aberdeen’s start to the season has been hugely impressive, and Jimmy Thelin and his men deserve huge credit for what they have achieved to date. But the challenge of keeping pace with this Celtic squad was always going to be a big ask.
The champions weren’t at their best here or even anywhere close to it, but they still ran out comfortable winners in the end. It will be a huge challenge for the Dons not only to react to their own defeat, but to cling onto the coattails of Brendan Rodgers’ men from here on in.
King Kuhn reigns supreme
For all that Celtic were given their initial foothold in this game by a Hearts slip up, Kuhn had always looked the likeliest player in green and white to come up with something during what was, collectively, an uncharacteristically sloppy first half.
And it was no surprise that it was the winger who slammed home the crucial second goal after he worked a devastating counterattack with Daizen Maeda.
As he latched onto the return ball from the Japanese and strode into the area, there was never any doubt about the outcome, and he duly delivered a thumping left foot finish that was past Craig Gordon and into the back of the Hearts net before the veteran keeper could move a muscle.
It was his 11th goal of the season to date and 21st goal involvement all told, a tally at this point you would have got long odds on predicting at the end of last term. The transformation in the 24-year-old has been remarkable, and he shows no signs of letting up after another impressive display.
Hearts shoot themselves in the foot after impressive first half
Neil Critchley must have been tearing his hair out that his gameplan, which had worked so well in the opening 45 minutes, was undone by a moment of slackness from one of his own men.
It appeared that Oyegoke had done the hard part as he read and cut out Greg Taylor’s attempted ball inside him for Maeda, but as he tried to clear his lines, his lazy swing of the left leg succeeded only in sending the ball off the midriff of Callum McGregor and squirting through to Kyogo, who forced the ball home despite the best efforts of Gordon.
When Kuhn cracked home the second on the counter soon after, it was game over, but there was so much to encourage Critchley from what had come before.
For all that Celtic had more of the ball than the hosts, it was clear that Hearts were quite happy to allow them to pass it around in deeper areas of the pitch. But when the hosts pressed, they did so as a unit, and they unsettled Celtic to such an extent that even the normally unflappable McGregor was coughing up possession.
They can take great heart from so much of what they did here and how they tested Celtic, but ultimately, the champions came up with an emphatic answer. And ultimately, Hearts are still only saved the ignominy of being bottom of the table by the ongoing shambles on the other side of Edinburgh.
Concern over Arne Engels?
The Belgian is still young, and it is clear that he is a wonderfully gifted, highly technical footballer. But it has also been clear for a while now that he is struggling to influence games for Celtic as they might hope an £11m signing would.
He had some nice touches here and there and showed the odd flash of his ability with a couple of searching balls in behind the Hearts defence, but that was about the sum of it really.
He will of course be given some grace and some time to settle into Scottish football and to get to grips with what Rodgers expects from him in his system, but the likes of Paulo Bernardo and Luke McCowan would be entitled to feel that his contributions of late don’t merit him keeping them on the bench for much longer.
Bernardo in fact made a telling contribution when he did get on, squaring for Idah to get Celtic’s third, and Engels will know he needs to do more.
Lawrence Shankland’s woes continue
As his refreshingly candid comments during the week confirmed, the Hearts captain is all too aware that he has fallen below his previous high standards this season, and it was a familiar tale for the striker here.
Again, there was much to admire about his performance. Celtic centre back Auston Trusty knew he was in a game alright, with Shankland able to pin him on several occasions as the ball was tossed up in his direction, allowing him to bring his teammates into play.
An example of that early in the game almost brought the opener, as some lovely link up play with Blair Spittal eventually saw Shankland tee up his teammate with a sight of goal, but with the ball at an awkward height he couldn’t force it past Kasper Schmeichel.
Sadly for Shankland though, it was his old predatory instinct in from of goal that was again conspicuous by its absence, as he sclaffed a James Penrice cutback wide of goal from around 12 yards soon after. There was no pressure on him at all, save for the pressure he appears to be placing upon his own shoulders to rediscover his goalscoring touch.
