It is an indication of the importance of Sunday's game that Hearts and Celtic have both been scrambling to acquire new signings to bolster their starting line-ups at Tynecastle. Hearts, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back from last weekend's surprise penalty shoot-out exit in the Scottish Cup at home to Falkirk. They would also become the first side other than Rangers to beat Celtic in three successive league meetings since Aberdeen in 1990. However, Celtic arrive revived, having won all seven of their league games during Martin O'Neill's two spells as interim manager following the exits of Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy. Amazingly, though, Celtic have lost each of their last five away league games against opponents starting the day top of the table - and two of those were against Hearts, in August 2018 and last October.

Source: BBC January 24, 2026 10:36 UTC