Chris Sutton makes shock Celtic title race admission as Hoops icon remains pessimistic despite St Mirren win
Hearts and Rangers also won their matches this weekend in the last fixtures before the split
After Celtic were unconvincing in their 1-0 victory over St Mirren on Saturday, Chris Sutton doesn’t believe Martin O’Neill’s side have it in them to win the title.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first half effort was the difference between the sides at Celtic Park in a match where the hosts only had seven shots on goal. Celtic’s third successive 1-0 league win over the Buddies meant they kept pace with Hearts at the top of the table, who came from behind to beat Motherwell at Tynecastle. Meanwhile, Rangers won 6-3 at Falkirk to hold up their end of the bargain.
As the Hoops remain three points off the lead and two behind their Glaswegian rivals going into the split, Sutton believes it would take a monumental fall from grace from Hearts and Rangers to allow Celtic to leapfrog them in the table, given their current form.
Sutton issues bleak Hoops title race verdict
Speaking on Sky Sports, Sutton said: “If Martin O’Neill is right with his calculations, he says that they need to win all five games. Celtic can’t win the league with their level of performance, unless the wheels fall off Hearts and Rangers. I just don’t see it. Performances do matter. They haven’t beaten Heart of Midlothian all season, they haven’t beaten Rangers (in the league). I don’t think Hearts and Rangers fear Celtic.
“I don’t think any team fears Celtic. That is a problem. At this point in time, you just worry about winning the next game and getting on with it. Rangers’ focus now will be on Motherwell, who’ve been poor of late. It’s impossible to predict, but I don’t think Celtic can win it, I think it’s out of Hearts and Rangers”
O’Neill on St Mirren win
One pleasing factor for the Celtic boss was that the Green Brigade were back in the stands for the first time since December after their ban was lifted through the week. Although O’Neill thought the Hoops performance on the pitch lacked intensity. He said: “I thought we didn't play very well. I thought the energy levels looked low. If it had been, say, the last 10 minutes of the game, you're holding on to something, you can understand that. But no, it set in pretty early in the second half, which is a bit of a concern.
“We'll try to rectify that if we can next week. Just winning is really important, but we didn't play well. I thought the crowd were great to us because they could easily have got irritated with some of the things we did. We were loose in possession at times. They kept us going. A bit like against Dundee last weekend, which had a big effect on us staying in the game after Dundee had equalised. I thought they were great. If by the end of the season, we could get a few things rectified, cleared up, call it what you will. It felt like a real Celtic Park atmosphere.”