It’s Glasgow vs Edinburgh round two this afternoon as Celtic take on Hearts at Celtic Park.
Celtic are looking to take advantage of Rangers’ slip up at Hibs yesterday and open up a two point gap at this early stage of the season.
Hearts meanwhile appear to have one eye on their huge Europa League Play Off second leg against Zurich on Thursday, by making seven changes from last time out.
Captain Craig Gordon, talismanic forward Lawrence Shankland and the ever dangerous Barrie Mckay have all been omitted from the starting line up.
Prior to kick off the stadium paid their respects to the late John Hughes. ‘Yogi’, who was part of the Lisbon lions squad which won the European cup in 1967, passed away earlier this year.
It didn’t take long for Celtic to flex their attacking muscles as Kyogo Furuhashi put the home side ahead after 15 minutes. Some excellent work from Daizen Maeda out wide found his Japanese compatriot unmarked in the box, where the forward had a tap in.
The industrious Maeda continued to pressure the Hearts defence into mistakes as the home side began to turn the screw.
Postecoglou’s orchestra were dictating the tempo of the game and all of his front men were in tune as they waltzed the ball around the Hearts midfield.
Hearts finally made a clear opportunity on the half hour mark, but Josh Ginnelly couldn’t find a way past the advancing Joe Hart after some good work by former Celtic man Gary Mackay-Steven.
Despite Hearts holding strong, Maeda should’ve doubled the home side’s advantage 10 minutes before half time. The ball found him in the box but he could only direct his header straight into the arms of the grateful Ross Stewart.
Hearts will take confidence from the fact they are only one behind at the break, the question comes as to whether they gamble on getting a result by rolling out their star turns from the bench with FC Zurich on the horizon.
