Five keys to Hibs v Celtic as Easter Road mixed emotions cloud picture amid Hearts title talk
Sunday’s visit of champions a ‘must-lose’ game in the eyes of some supporters
By David Gray’s own admission, his team are running out of road. For their own reasons, they need to hit the afterburners against Celtic at Easter Road tomorrow.
As they chase the club’s first home-and-away double over the Hoops since season 1992-93, Gray’s men will need to be at their absolute best. Whatever faults may have been exposed in this Celtic team over a barmy season, they remain dangerous in the extreme.
So what are the keys, then, to Hibs getting a result that – depending on events elsewhere – might get them back into the race for fourth place, with all its European guarantees? Let’s begin.
Ignore the outside noise
It’s merely accepted that there are a lot of Hibs fans who don’t actually want their team to win on Sunday. Seriously.
The argument goes like this. The best that can happen now is that Gray’s men storm through the final four games to overtake Motherwell and finish fourth in the Scottish Premiership.
That would be a decent achievement, on the back of finishing third last year. And it would secure back-to-back European qualification for the first time in half a century. You can’t ignore that.
But. Oh, it’s an almighty but. A couple of them, actually. Starting with the suspicion that, given the strength of both teams, Celtic are likely to beat Dunfermline in next month’s Scottish Cup Final.
Even allowing for the scar tissue from last season’s final and its impact on Hibernian’s Euro ambitions, you could easily see the Easter Road side strolling into the second qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League – which kicks off on Monday week or something, right? – by finishing fifth. All very meh.
The second but is bigger than the sun. Hearts winning the league, with a helping hand from Hibs beating Celtic, would cast an enormous shadow over Leith that would take decades to pass. That’s just how football rivalry works.
“I understand why you ask the question,” said Gray, addressing the issue yesterday as he added: “Because I grew up in the city, I know exactly what it’s like. Honestly, it’s very easy to say this, but it doesn’t make it awkward for me at all.”
Understanding the question does not equate to agreeing with the premise. Gray has his job to do. And understands that not doing it to the best of his ability could carry consequences.
Keep the numbers up
Seriously, any chance of finishing the game with 11 men? Hibs fans might settle for 10 …
The three red cards picked up in the last two games have all, to one degree or another, been mental mistakes. Poor positioning, losing a ball that shouldn’t have been lost, desperately trying to make amends … it’s been a bit of a pattern.
The one thing Celtic do boast is pace and wit in attack. Defenders must get their positioning right. And can’t go diving in.
Smudger needs to shine
The return to the starting XI of Jordan Smith as goalkeeper actually feels like a bit of a bonus, at this stage of the season. No offence to Raphael Sallinger, but Smudger is a fan favourite – and a more than able deputy.
That said, he needs to be at his absolute best against Celtic. He’s done well against them in the past. And is vastly experienced.
Expect him to slow the game down when required. Do not expect him to take a lot of risks.
Chaiwa can show Celtic what they’re missing
The all-action midfielder is constantly being mentioned in despatches as a Celtic target. Assuming he has been let out of the combination oxygen tent/ice bath needed to recover from last week’s exhausting shift as part of a nine-man team, he’ll get a chance to show exactly why he’s attracting such interest.
The Celtic midfield ain’t what it used to be. With Chaiwa and Jamie McGrath in the middle of the park, it’s even potentially an area where Hibs could carve out an advantage, although they’d be a lot happier with a fit Josh Mulligan in the trenches alongside them.
Play with urgency
Weird atmosphere. Mixed emotions. But a job to be done, if fourth place is to be secured.
"Well, we're starting to run out of games, that's the big thing,” said Gray, the gaffer adding: “But it's a brilliant fixture to be involved in again, off the back of going to Celtic Park and winning the last time. The players take confidence for that.
"It doesn't make this game any easier just because we won the last time, so that will be difficult. Celtic are on form as well just now and going for the title, which shows you the level of opposition you're playing against again.
"But again, it's all about what we're doing and it is an opportunity that if we put the complete performance in, as we've demonstrated at times this season but probably not as consistently as we'd like, that if we do that, we're capable of beating anybody. That's what the level of performance is going to be required to try and get us three points this week.
“And then who knows what happens fixture-wise? We play on Sunday, so we'll have an idea of what happens on Saturday. I know there's another game on the Monday, but it is very much the old cliche of just all you can do is keep your own house in order and make sure you get the maximum out of the group that we can."