Martin O’Neill believes a fear of relinquishing their title is driving his players on as they prepare to put everything on the line in the final week of the Premiership season.
Celtic start the weekend three points behind leaders Hearts with tomorrow’s home match with Rangers and a midweek trip to Motherwell coming before the Gorgie side come to Parkhead next Saturday.
Champions for the past four seasons and in 13 of the past 14 years, O’Neill’s men have stayed in contention this time with four straight league wins arriving on the back of a dismal loss at Tannadice in late March.
And the veteran, who expects this to be his last experience of the Old Firm game, feels the recent upturn in form has been sparked by a realisation that another slip-up would hand the title to Hearts.
‘I’m sure of it,’ he said. ‘It’s not a position that the football club has found itself in in recent years. Generally speaking, they’ve gone clear and there’s been no opposition.
‘There’s been plenty of opposition this year, not just from Rangers but obviously from Hearts.
Martin O’Neill is relishing the opportunity to take on Rangers for the final time this weekend
‘So it is a big, big change, not something that a number of these players have been used to. You have to get used to it. You’ve been chasing, you have to keep chasing.’
O’Neill has told his players to harness the emotion of the occasion as they look forward to the final derby of the season.
Needing no less than a win against their great rivals to keep their challenge alive, he feels the key to a victory is using the energy of the crowd while keeping your aggression in check.
‘I think it’s very difficult to take the emotion out of it,’ he offered.
‘This is a world famous fixture — I don’t know what anyone could take the emotion out of it.
‘It has to be emotional. You have to try to channel it.
‘The early message from us would be to be disciplined. Even in those heady days 20 years ago, that was the message you tried to convey.
‘We didn’t quite convey it to the likes of Chris Sutton, who got himself sent off a few times so obviously he didn’t heed it…
‘So yes, play with your hearts as well as your heads.’
Having suffered back-to-back defeats to Motherwell and Hearts, Rangers will be arithmetically out of the race should Derek McInnes’ side win at Fir Park this evening.
The Celtic manager has urged his players to keep their cool against their city rivals
Even if that comes to pass, though, O’Neill feels Rangers’ desire to beat Celtic won’t change in the slightest.
‘You’d have to ask them but I can’t imagine it would for an Old Firm game,’ said O’Neill. ‘I don’t think their approach would be different.
‘I don’t know if Hearts winning would change them psychologically but they are playing us.
‘If they aren’t up for that game, they won’t be up for any.’
O’Neill has confirmed that Daizen Maeda is fit to play after picking up a knock in last week’s 2-1 win at Easter Road.
After a 17-game run without scoring for his club, the Japan international has returned to form by netting four goals in three matches and will now look to continue that run against Danny Rohl’s men.
‘Daizen hurt himself towards the end of the game,’ said O’Neill. ‘He’s fine, which is really, really good.
‘He has trained and he has got no reaction. And so he’s going to be fine. He’s had a super couple of weeks.’
Maeda’s form has risen with the team, who are looking to claim a sixth consecutive victory in all competitions for the first time this season.
When asked if they were peaking at the right time, O’Neill was cautious.
‘I genuinely don’t know that,’ he said. ‘The games that we’ve had have been difficult. So I’ve not tried to analyse that much about it.
Daizen Maeda is expected to be fit for action after picking up an injury at Hibs on Sunday
‘We’ve got over the line. We had our difficulties on last week. Well, we certainly had. We had a bit of a problem with VAR, we had a bit of a problem with a few decisions.
‘But I think the Old Firm game looks after itself.
‘The players have, since [losing at] Tannadice, had some time to reflect because of the international break.
‘We got back to Dundee, got the late winner, and it’s gone from there. We’ve had moments where we’ve had to fight through things, but we’ve seen it through so far.
‘But Sunday is a massive test for us.’
O’Neill has confirmed that Tomas Cvancara has played the last game of his loan spell from Borussia Monchengladbach with the forward set for surgery on his groin next week.
