Celtic's Steady Progress Keeps Fans on Edge, Elevating Title Chances!
Celtic have propelled themselves into being Scottish Premiership title favourites by coming through a gruelling schedule with a variety of performances, says former midfielder Scott Allan. Following back-to-back home defeats against Stuttgart and Hibernian, the Parkhead side's season was on the brink of unravelling. However, four victories in their following five matches - the most recent of which came against Motherwell on Saturday - have moved them to within two points of league leaders Hearts and progressed them into the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
Ex-Celtic player Allan, who has previously been critical of the manner of his old club's displays under Martin O'Neill, hailed the team's ability to come through a challenging spell unscathed. "This week you would say Celtic do look favourites at this moment in time," Allan said on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast . "I think you look at the four games they came through: away in Stuttgart, Aberdeen away and the two trips to Ibrox.
"Completely different performances in all their games, different aspects of what you'd expect from a Celtic team, but they came through it nonetheless. "Then they cap it off with a win over Motherwell. With Hearts getting beaten, I do feel the momentum is on Celtic's side - and then you look at the two trips to Dundee and Dundee United, hard games in their own right.
"That's why it's so hard to predict [the title race], but you can't take away from Martin O'Neill and the players in the changing room because they are missing key players - there's no getting away from that. "