Celtic play Aberdeen in the Scottish League Cup final on Sunday as they look to successfully defend one-third of their double domestic treble.
The Hoops remain top of the Scottish Premiership table, can qualify for the Europa League last-32 and will fancy their chances of retaining the Scottish Cup.
However, a stuttering start to 2018-19, which saw Celtic win just six of their opening 12 games across all competitions had seen many predicting that they wouldn’t have an easy ride domestically this term.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have since managed to turn their fortunes around, winning 11 of their last 15 games, and Kilmarnock striker Kris Boyd believes Scott Sinclair’s goal in the 1-0 win over Aberdeen was a major turning point for them.
“I think back to September when we beat them 2-1 at Rugby Park — they are a team totally transformed. Their confidence was low back then and they looked like a team that was struggling,” the 35-year-old ex-Rangers man told The Scottish Sun.
“We sensed that and we took our chances on the day. A few days later, Celtic huffed and puffed against St Johnstone and needed a late Leigh Griffiths goal to get them out of jail.
“Then a Scott Sinclair backheel earned them a less-than-convincing 1-0 home win against Aberdeen. For me, that was the turning point in Celtic’s season. They dug really deep to bounce back from defeat against Kilmarnock — and those wins over St Johnstone and the Dons were massive when you look back now.”
Celtic are undefeated in the league since that narrow win over Sunday’s opponents in September, winning five and drawing just once since.
They have kept five clean sheets and scored 23 goals in the process, looking every inch like the invincible side that strolled to the domestic treble undefeated two seasons ago.
It’s still a long campaign ahead, but the Hoops have emerged favourites to swoop on all three domestic silverware, and it’ll take a lot from the opposition to stop them.
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