Celtic 4-0 St Johnstone: Rodgers’ relentless side move to within touching distance of another title

For Celtic, 2024 wasn’t a bad old year in the end. Two defeats in 50 games — one to Hearts with ten men, the other to Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund — failed to take the shine off the three domestic trophies glistening in the Parkhead boardroom. On days like this, you wonder when they’ll ever leave.

A time of year when the nostalgic favourites are wheeled out for a festive airing, news of Motherwell leading Rangers by two goals resurrected an old chant of ‘ten-in-a-row’ from the Celtic support.

News of a Fir Park fightback by Philippe Clement’s team changed nothing. Fourteen points clear heading for the midway point of the season, Celtic’s fourth successive Scottish league title — a 13th in 14 seasons — is now within touching distance.

While Clement’s side prevented the lead extending further with two second-half goals, they still managed to lose ground.

Celtic’s 15th clean sheet in 18 league games was supplemented by four goals which extended their goal difference to plus 48.

In comparison, Rangers’ goal difference is just 18, effectively adding another point to the Parkhead tally. At this time of year it never rains, but it pours.

Top versus bottom was every bit as one-sided as expected. Celtic rattled in 30 shots on goal to St Johnstone’s one.

Nicolas Kuhn’s 14th goal of the season eked out a half-time lead before two in five minutes from Kyogo Furuhashi, with the scoring rounded off by a composed finish from substitute Daizen Maeda.

Captain Callum McGregor was rested for an hour and it made no difference to the final outcome.

Simo Valakari spoke of his St Johnstone team going 90 minutes without drawing breath and the relentless nature of this Celtic team offers little or no hope to Rangers.

While a win over their oldest rivals on Thursday might buy some breathing space for their Belgian manager, there’s an argument to be had on both sides of Glasgow over whether that’s a good thing or bad. At the end of a week when Rangers shipped four points in two games, Celtic and their supporters would be perfectly happy to see Clement stay put.

Winless in their last 16 visits to Parkhead in all competitions, St Johnstone’s last victory in the east end of Glasgow came in March 2015 courtesy of a Danny Swanson goal. Celtic had won 26 of their last 30 meetings with the Perth side, their last defeat of any kind coming during Ronny Deila’s tenure in May 2016.

Throw in a run of one win in nine games and there was little doubt over how this game would finish. The only question lingered over just how many goals Celtic might score.

Keeper Josh Rae prevented the home team killing the game before half-time with a couple of spectacular stops. The first came from Arne Engels, in to the starting XI for rested skipper McGregor. The second came minutes after he was powerless to prevent Celtic making the breakthrough, inevitably, via the left boot of Kuhn.

A sweeping pass from Reo Hatate gave the top scorer the time and space to cut inside stranded, tortured right-back Bozo Mikulic and lash the ball past Rae in emphatic fashion.

With half an hour played, Celtic had their goal. Few felt it would be their last.

Rae’s intervention prevented Kuhn adding a quickfire second inside minutes. Cutting inside once more, a curling, dipping shot was heading for the postage stamp corner until St Johnstone’s keeper sprang high to push round the post.

A goal to the good, Celtic’s home support began to enjoy themselves when news of a second goal for Motherwell against Rangers enhanced the festive season no end.

With the hosts dominant in every department, St Johnstone ended the first half without a touch of the ball in Celtic’s 18-yard area.

A manager who barely has a defensive bone in his body, Valakari’s response was bold. Strikers Adama Sidibeh and Benjamin Kimpioka replaced Nicky Clark and Makenzie Kirk. Lewis Neilson was on for Aaron Essel. If the visitors were going down, they’d go down with guns blazing. It was an approach that almost came at a price when Celtic forced the ball into the net for a second time, Alistair Johnston’s low cross turned into his own net by Saints defender Kyle Cameron from close range. An offside flag curtailed the briefest of celebrations before VAR confirmed. No goal.

News of a Rangers fightback — of sorts — removed some of the jubilation from the atmosphere, but not much.

Celtic restored it by finally claiming their second goal seconds before an hour had passed. Paulo Bernardo volleyed a dinked Hatate ball over the top towards goal, Rae pulling off a fine save until Kyogo swooped to head the loose ball into the net for 2-0 from close range. He’d scored against St Johnstone because he always does. With his eye in, an eighth league goal of his season came inside five minutes.

It was a painfully simple strike for St Johnstone to lose. Engels received the ball on the right side and lofted a cross into space for Kyogo to sidefoot the ball into the net for 3-0 from close range.

The game won, Brendan Rodgers turned his thoughts to Ibrox on Thursday. As Maeda, Adam Idah and McGregor took to the field, St Johnstone had a more immediate priority. Making it through the final half-hour without sustaining a hiding.

It took Maeda six minutes to make an impact, the substitute applying a composed finish to a delightful dinked through ball from Bernardo to make it 4-0.

The final 17 minutes became a test of endurance for a visiting side yet to give Kasper Schmeichel a save to make.

Home games against Hibernian and Dundee offer hope — if no guarantee — of beginning 2025 with a couple of days less chastening than this one as they attempt to stop themselves being cut adrift at the foot of the table.

CELTIC (4-3-3): Schmeichel 5.5; Johnston 7 (Ralston 74), Carter-Vickers 6.5, Scales 6.5, Valle 6.5; ENGELS 7.5 (McGregor 67), Bernardo 7, Hatate 6.5 (McCowan 74); Yang 6, Kuhn 7.5 (Maeda 67), Kyogo 7 (Idah 67). 

Booked: None.

Manager: Brendan Rodgers 7.

ST JOHNSTONE (3-5-2): Rae 6; Raymond 4, Mikulic 4, Sanders 5 (Holt 78); Cameron 4, Essel 3 (Neilson 45), Smith 4, Sprangler 4 (Carey 69), Franczak 4; Clark 3 (Sidibeh 45), Kirk 3 (Kimpioka 45). 

Booked: Essel.

Manager: Simo Valakari 5.

Referee: Matthew MacDermid.

Attendance: 58,645.