Celtic's 62-match domestic unbeaten run profiled
Friday 3 November 2017 10:52, UK
Celtic can once again write themselves into the history books by breaking a British record which has stood for 100 years.
Brendan Rodgers' side will carve their name in the archives of European football by taking their unbeaten domestic stretch to 63 matches if they avoid defeat on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Football.
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St Johnstone are the team who stand in their way of reaching that target, having been the last side to topple Celtic in Scottish competition back in May 2016.
The treble-winning champions will surpass their record, set between 1915-17 under their first manager Willie Maley, with a win or a draw at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
With history on the cusp of being broken, we take a detailed look at Celtic's current unbeaten run from the top scorers to the key moments.
Statistics
Games played - 62
Scottish Premiership - 50 (43 wins, 7 draws)
Scottish Cup - 5 (5 wins)
Scottish League Cup - 7 (7 wins)
Goals for - 179
Celtic have had 21 different goalscorers during their unbeaten stretch. From Kieran Tierney's first for the club against Motherwell to start it all off in May 2016 to Leigh Griffiths' strike against Kilmarnock on Saturday.
Goals Against - 35
Saturday's opponents St Johnstone have scored the most against Celtic with six goals during this run.
Rangers and Hibs both have four goals although Celtic only played Hibs twice in that time.
St Johnstone striker Steven MacLean is the only player to notch three times, five others have scored twice against Celtic (Adam Rooney, Louis Moult, Kenny Miller, Jordan Jones and John McGinn).
Clean Sheets - 35
Craig Gordon (34), Dorus de Vries (1), Clean sheet % (56.5%)
Goalscorers
Moussa Dembele - 32 goals
Dembele has scored three hat-tricks, including two in six days against St Johnstone and Inverness CT last season.
Dembele's other hat-trick came in his Old Firm debut when Celtic beat Rangers 5-1 in what was also Brendan Rodgers' first experience of the rivalry.
Scott Sinclair - 29 goals
He was signed on the Saturday night and didn't expect to play any part in Celtic's season opener against Hearts. But with the score 1-1 at Tynecastle on the opening day of the 2016/17 season, Sinclair entered the fray. Within 20 minutes he had endeared himself to the club's support with the winner and hasn't looked back since.
Stuart Armstrong - 20 goals
"Oh Brendan said, we've got to play him in centre mid". A portion of the Celtic fans' song dedicated to Armstrong gives an insight into his rise to prominence under Rodgers.
Mostly played out wide by Ronny Deila, the Scotland international struggled for consistency before the arrival of the Northern Irish manager.
Since lining up alongside Scott Brown in the centre of the park, the midfielder has turned a somewhat faltering Celtic career into being a player the club are desperate to keep.
Leigh Griffiths - 19 goals
Some argue Leigh Griffiths has been harshly treated in recent times. The striker was dropped for Tuesday's Champions League tie with Bayern Munich in favour of Moussa Dembele and appears to be second choice to the Frenchman.
The sympathy for Griffiths could come from the fact he was Celtic's hero under Ronny Deila and has stepped in successfully when Dembele has been missing through injury.
Tom Rogic - 14
"He scores big goals in big games." There's not too much wrong with Brendan Rodgers' assessment of his Australian talisman.
Even under Ronny Deila, Rogic was the saviour with his stunning long-range effort against Kilmarnock to effectively clinch the title in March 2016.
He has since scored in the 2016/17 League Cup final against Aberdeen and got the last-gasp winner against Derek McInnes's side in May's blockbuster Scottish Cup finale.
Others
13 - James Forrest, Callum McGregor
10 - Patrick Roberts
6 - Mikael Lustig
5 - Kieran Tierney, Dedryck Boyata
2 - Scott Brown, Ryan Christie, Olivier Ntcham
1 - Nir Bitton, Erik Sviatchenko, Liam Henderson, Jozo Simunovic, Anthony Ralston, Odsonne Edouard, Jack Aitchison
Key Matches
Celtic 7-0 Motherwell - 15/05/16
Some will forget that this incredible undefeated run started under the much-maligned Ronny Deila. The Norwegian had already announced his departure from Celtic by the final game of the Premiership season, but his squad gave him a memorable send-off as they hit Mark McGhee's Motherwell for seven.
Hearts 1-2 Celtic 07/08/16
This was Brendan Rodgers' first experience of competitive Scottish domestic football and number two on the unbeaten run.
Hearts looked like they may gain a point with the score at 1-1, but Scott Sinclair was thrown in for his first experience of football in Scotland. Just hours after signing for the club he scored the winner on his debut with ten minutes to go.
Celtic 5-1 Rangers 10/09/16
The first Old Firm derby of Rodgers' career was also the first for another of the big signings in Scottish football that summer, Joey Barton.
A revitalised Scott Brown dominated the midfield against Barton, with Rodgers' summer coup Moussa Dembele shining against Celtic's fiercest rivals with a hat-trick.
Motherwell 3-4 Celtic 03/12/16
This was the first real scare for Rodgers in the Scottish Premiership, despite being held to a draw late on against Inverness CT earlier that season. A couple of goals from Louis Moult gave Motherwell a two-goal lead at half-time.
Celtic equalised but fell behind a minute later, only for Stuart Armstrong to bring Celtic level within 60 seconds. Tom Rogic scored in stoppage time to break the hearts of the Fir Park crowd.
Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen- 27/05/17
A fantastic cup final saw a Scottish team at long last get close to Rodgers' side. After taking the lead through Jonny Hayes, Stuart Armstrong levelled almost direct from kick-off. What followed for the remaining 80 was a great spectacle for the neutral.
Aberdeen squandered a brilliant chance to go 2-1 up as Hayes' cut-back alluded the on-rushing Kenny McLean. They were made to pay for it as Celtic stepped up the pressure and made the breakthrough, once again through Tom Rogic in stoppage time with Aberdeen dead on their feet.
Celtic 2-2 Hibernian- 30/09/17
We are 11 games into the 2017/18 season and Celtic have already drawn three league games at home, but they came closest to losing their unbeaten run when Neil Lennon made his managerial return to the east end of Glasgow.
Two good strikes from John McGinn put Hibs 2-1 up. But just three minutes later Callum McGregor equalised and Rodgers' untainted domestic record continued.
Last Saturday saw Kilmarnock come away from Celtic Park with a draw to equal the 100-year-old record of 62 domestic matches unbeaten.
