12 Points Clear

Motherwell came to Celtic Park with a plan to frustrate Celtic by parking the bus and trying to catch Celtic on the break today much like Dundee United did at Tannadice.

Their game plan was working until some decent work from Yang forced their goalkeeper into making the foul for a penalty as the clock ticked towards halftime.

There was no doubt it was a penalty and after the VAR check Arne Engels scored another from the spot to make it 1-0 at half time and a chance for Brendan Rodgers to put a plan in place for the second half.

Three goals in the second half summed up just how much of the ball Celtic had in the game. With every Celtic goal Motherwell were forced to go forward to try and salvage something from the game, this left plenty of gaps for the Celtic players to exploit.

Maeda added a second with a bullet of a header before second half substitutions Kuhn and Hatate made it 3 and 4. Celtic dominated the game and now look towards the visit of St. Johnstone on Sunday to Celtic Park a game Celtic will be expected to win before the team cross the city for the Glasgow Derby against the rangers.

Engels picked up the sponsors MOTM award but Callum McGregor deserves high praise for running the midfield and being available at all times to take the ball and carry it towards the visitors goal. He is a leader that leads by example.

Celtic could have scored a few more but were denied by Motherwell keeper, Oxborough on a number of occasions. Adam Idah got a starting place ahead of Kyogo and he will be disappointed with not scoring in the first half on a day when Celtic had 23 shots ( 7 on target).

All in all a comfortable afternoon for Hoops. Three points in the bag and top of the table 12 points clear of the rangers who lost 2-1 on the road in Paisley. Everybody loves a late goal well done to St. Mirren.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes and host of the Celtic Soul Podcast