Celtic manager Neil Lennon has said he is looking forward to facing Hearts at Parkhead as his side return to SPL duty after the international break. Celtic have taken maximum points in the league so far and the Parkhead boss said he would be aiming to take the three points again.
Lennon said that he was aware that Hearts had put in a string of good performances under Jim Jefferies so far and said they may not have had the rewards they deserved. However, he said he would be setting his team out to attack and expected a home win.
“They’re in good form,” Lennon said. “We’ve obviously had two weeks to pore over things and their recent games.
“They’ve had a very good result at Hamilton and by all accounts they were unlucky not to win the other games they’ve drawn. So it’s a tasty game for ourselves.
“It’s at home so we’ll be going into that to try and win the game. Hopefully the majority of the players will be fresh enough.”
Asked if he felt that the crowd was warming to his side after the disappointments of Tony Mowbray’s reign, Lennon insisted that it was up to the team to deliver for the fans. He said that while he was happy with domestic performances so far, he was more concerned with the points than with style at present.
“You can only [win over the crowd] by results and performances and results come first obviously,” he said. “You can get a decent performance, particularly at home and get the crowd on your side and get a connection there, which we did against St Mirren, then obviously we’ve had the negativity of the Utrecht result.
“So it’s still a work in progress, obviously but our domestic form has been good. I though we played very well, despite other reports, against Motherwell. I thought we did very well and dominated the game and it’s not an easy place to go, Fir Park.
“You look at the overall performance in the three [SPL] games and it’s been very pleasing.”
