SHARP SHOOTERS
Lambo backs Bhoys to hit 100 league goals before European giants Barca and Monaco Wenger set for a £200m signing kitty
PAUL LAMBERT has backed Celtic to beat Barcelona and Monaco to 100 league goals this season – on their way to smashing the Hoops’ Scottish top-flight record of 105.
The former skipper, who played a key role in Celtic’s record-breaking goal haul in the 2003/04 campaign, has kept a keen eye on Celtic this season as they’ve cruised to the Premiership title.
Brendan Rodgers’ men have swept all before them domestically and are looking to become the first team in Europe to hit a ton of goals this season.
Barcelona and Monaco lead the charge on 88 apiece with the Scottish champions three adrift on 85. And Lambert is convinced no club can stop Rodgers’ march to the Treble with Celtic – a feat Martin O’Neill also achieved in his first season at Parkhead.
The former midfielder said: “I’m sure Celtic will be looking at the Barcelona and Monaco tally and trying to see if they can beat them to being the first team in Europe to score 100 goals. I will be delighted if they can do that.
“They’ve done well to put themselves in the position to go on and win the whole lot. They will be thinking of doing everything, winning the Treble, going through the season unbeaten and scoring over 100 goals.
“To complete an entire league season unbeaten would be a remarkable achievement. It does not matter if the standard is not as strong.
“You can only beat what is in front of you and you can’t magic a Manchester United or a Manchester City to come up and play you every week.
“Celtic can only play and beat what is in front of them. Whether the gulf is too big for anybody else to catch up with them is for other teams to do something about. It is not for Celtic to apologise.
“If you can complete an invincible season then go and do it. Can I see anybody beating Celtic? I am not sure that anybody can take them.”
Lambert reckons even to be within touching distance of the team he captained is a feat worth applauding – considering Parkhead boss O’Neill had the most-feared strikeforce in Scottish football in Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson.
The attacking trio netted 57 of the total goals scored in that haul of 105 strikes13 years ago and Lambert said: “That was a great Celtic team. Henrik Larsson was just a phenomenon with his goalscoring exploits.
“Sutty chipped in with a fair few and so did John. Henrik was the man banging them in regularly for us though and it wasn’t just his goalscoring, it was his all-round play.
“That Celtic team was top-class. We were physically and mentally strong and the ability in all the players was very high. That team could have gone to any arena and handled any game.
“We also had an extra-special management team in Martin, John Robertson and Steve Walford. We kicked on from there and it was an incredible time.”
Although Celtic are on course to break all sorts of records Lambert feels it’s wrong to draw comparisons between Rodgers’ squad and O’Neill’s.
The Wolves boss said: “I just think you can’t compare two sets of players. Celtic have done well under Brendan but it’s unfair on Martin’s team that I played in or Brendan’s current side to compare the two squads. It is a different era, different time and different players.
“The only thing that has not changed are the Celtic supporters. The fans will drive the team over the line as they try to achieve their remaining targets.”
Lambert has watched Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair tear up Scottish football and hailed their debut campaigns north of the border.
He said: “I signed Scott for Aston Villa and I knew what he could do. He has been a breath of fresh air up there because he is working for a manager he knows inside out.
“Dembele banged in a few goals in England and came to people’s attention. From what I have seen of him playing for Celtic he seems to have taken to Scottish football right away.”
Lambert forged a close relationship with Rodgers when both were vying for Premier League promotion with Norwich and Swansea respectively.
He said: “I know Brendan really well. I spoke to him before he got the Celtic job. It was good to see him getting back into management after what happened at Liverpool.
“We had a real ding-dong in the Championship as we had a good rivalry going on at the time. We each enjoyed success as Norwich went up automatically and Swansea came up through the play-offs.
“We had a cracking rivalry and that continued at Aston Villa and Liverpool. I sent him a text saying ‘well done’ when Celtic won the title. I couldn’t have been happier for Brendan and Celtic.” ARSENAL will spend £200million to fix their squad this summer – and Arsene Wenger will be the man to spend it.
Celtic duo Kieran Tierney and Moussa Dembele are among a list of players on the Gunners’ radar.
Wenger is still expected to be in charge, despite the fan backlash, as the club prepare for the biggest revolution of his 21-year reign.
The 3-0 Premier League defeat at Crystal Palace has brought renewed calls for the French manager to leave when his contract expires this summer but instead he is close to signing up for another two years.
Wenger is already working on his summer plans and could end up cashing in on Mesut Ozil who has stalled on a £280,000-a-week contract offer, and Jack Wilshere, who is a £20m target for West Ham. Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United are also keen on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Olivier Giroud has become fed-up at being a bit-part player this season while David Ospina, Lucas Perez and a raft of squad players could all go to free up cash which would be on top of around £100m already set aside for transfers this summer.
Ozil, 28, is growing increasingly frustrated and, despite public protestations, could push to go if he feels Wenger staying means that Arsenal will not have enough of an overhaul to be competitive for major trophies.
Alexis Sanchez has also been a target for Chelsea, PSG and Juventus but there is a feeling he is ready to give it one more year – especially as that would mean he’d be available on a lucrative free transfer in 2018.
Although the club are keeping an eye on Dembele, Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette is top of Arsenal’s striker hit-list. And the Gunners have joined the list of admirers of Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha while Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford and Stoke’s Jack Butland are also targets.