The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
History beckons for Rodgers and Celtic
If Celtic emerge from McDiarmid Park unscathed it will take them one match clear of the 62-game domestic unbeaten run first achieved by Willie Maley’s Celtic side in 1917 and which has stood as the British record ever since.
However, Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies insists breaking the record is not at the forefront of the league leaders’ thoughts.
He said: “We have never used it as a team talk until this point and I doubt we will use it at the weekend either.
“The record is not something we think about.
“It has just been a consequence of the great work from the players and the manager leading everyone forward.
“We are proud to have equalled that but the focus is on the game and the consequences are something else.”
Tommy Wright’s side have lost four and drawn one of their last five matches but Davies is expecting a test.
He said: “It is fair to say they are not on the best run at the moment in terms of results, but that doesn’t matter.
“Tommy gets the team well organised, they compete well, they are aggressive and obviously we are the team that everybody wants to beat.
“They are a top-six team and if you go away to a top-six team you expect a tough game.”
Kieran Tierney was instrumental in starting Celtic’s unbeaten domestic run, which he hopes will become record-breaking today.
The left-back scored his first Hoops goal in the 7-0 victory over Motherwell on the last day of the 2015-16 season when the champions picked up the Ladbrokes Premiership trophy at Parkhead.
It was Ronny Deila’s last game as boss, and his successor Brendan Rodgers has not yet lost to a Scottish side.
Tierney, 20, who signed a new sixyear deal with the Parkhead club on Monday, remembers well the first match of the current sequence.
“Yes, it was my first goal and my right foot as well so I won’t score many of them,” he said.
“I will remember that for a while. You never think of that at all (getting to 62 games unbeaten).
“It was a great day, trophy day as well and for me to get my first professional goal and to start off this run has been great.
“It is a great run and some achievement from the boys but we have not set out to beat any run or record.
“We set out to play the way we play, to work hard and press high and we go out to win every game so we look forward to Saturday.”
Brendan Rodgers has no new injury worries ahead of the clash with St Johnstone.
Winger Patrick Roberts is sidelined for a few weeks with a hamstring injury which meant he missed the midweek Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich.
Anthony Ralston remains out with a knee problem, while fellow defenders Jozo Simunovic and Erik Sviatchenko are still working their way back from respective hamstring and knee injuries.