Celtic ace thinks Hearts are within reach in title 'hunt' as split factor nullifies time running out for Hoops
The Hoops’ in-form man remains confident his side can overturn the five point deficit on the league leaders.
Celtic midfielder, Benjamin Nygren maintains his side have enough time on their side to ‘hunt Hearts down’ in the Scottish Premiership title race.
The Swede has been Celtic’s main man this season in terms of output as his league 15 goals from midfield place behind only Motherwell striker, Tawanda Maswanhise in the division’s goalscoring charts. He continued his rich vein of form in front of goal against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Wednesday night, where he scored the match winner in a 2-1 victory.
The result means Celtic are have now played the same amount of games as Rangers and Hearts, as they leapfrogged their Old Firm rivals in the table. However, they still sit five points behind The Jambos in the table with nine games to go. While time is now running out for Celtic to catch the league leaders, Nygren is confident that his side can close the gap and is particularly looking ahead to the post split fixtures, when Hearts will need to travel to Celtic Park.
Celtic star man on Hearts ‘hunt’
Nygren said via PLZ: “Yes, of course. It’s still possible (to win the league), I don’t know how many games it’s left, nine or ten games left,”“We for sure need to do good from here, but we’ll play them again, so of course it’s in reach. Is there enough time to hunt Hearts down? Yes, of course. The time has to be now.
“You all know that in the last five games of the season a lot can happen and there are no easy games, so there can be big swings. That’s how it is. The last games will be tough, and they will for sure feel the pressure. We’ll play them (Hearts) again at home, so we need to do good from here. Myself, I’m not looking that much at the league table. I know we have to go into every game to win, but of course it’s better to be second than third.”
The 24-year old has played a huge role in Celtic’s recent post-Wilfried Nancy revival with 11 goal contributions in his last 12 league games. However, his winner against the Dons has been the subject of subsequent VAR scrutiny, with some questioning whether he was offside as he tapped the ball in.
Nygren on VAR controversy
The Hoops’ Granite City hero admitted he was worried after a lengthy VAR review but maintained he always felt he was onside. He added: “Of course you’re always worried when you see the VAR on the screen, but in the end I was on the right side so that was good. My feeling was I was onside because I tried to see where the ball was and to be on the right side. So I didn’t think it would be VAR first, but on the footage it was closer than I thought.”
Nygren has been happy with his impressive numbers in his first season in Scottish Football, but also concedes it will mean nothing to him if Celtic don’t finish abover Hearts come May. He continued: “I’m very pleased with that. I’m a player who wants to contribute to help my team win and that’s what you do with goals and assists.
“That’s how I, as a player, try to create chances and score goals and create goal-scoring opportunities. I had 16 goals last season. But I’m here to win. We’ll see. Of course, it will not mean as much. It’s a team sport, you want to win as a team and that’s how it is.”