Skipper Richard Brittain believes Ross County will come up against a "world-class" Celtic side in Saturday's Premiership clash in Dingwall.
The midfielder's assertion will raise eyebrows even among the Hoops support, who booed their team off following the 1-0 defeat by Hamilton before the international break which kept the champions in sixth place with 10 points lost from eight games this season.
The first home defeat to the Lanarkshire side in 76 years heaped more pressure on manager Ronny Deila, who has struggled to win over the fans since Celtic were effectively knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers twice earlier in the campaign.
The Norwegian has Charlie Mulgrew, Adam Matthews and Mikael Lustig back in the squad after injury while James Forrest is back training after a lengthy spell out with a hamstring complaint.
What changes Deila makes to his line-up remains to be seen, but Brittain is in no doubt as to the magnitude of the task facing the Staggies.
He said: "It is going to be a difficult game, regardless of what team plays.
"Celtic are a world-class side. They have world-class players throughout their squad and, like I said, it is going to be a difficult game for us.
"But if we work hard and do the basics right, hopefully we can get some chances in the game and put the ball in the back of the net."
Left-back Jamie Reckord and midfielders Terry Dunfield and Martin Woods all joined County during the international break as new manager Jim McIntyre looks to build on recent improvement, having beaten Dundee and drawn with Highland rivals Inverness before the international break.
And while County remain bottom of the table, three points behind Motherwell and St Mirren, Brittain, who faces up to four weeks out when he has foot surgery although he will be available for the visit of Celtic, is looking to build on those results.
He said: "That's what we wanted to do, we wanted to start putting points on the board and hopefully we can take the form from the last two games into Saturday's game.
"Maybe we've not had the rub of the green, when the ball was breaking to us in the box it was maybe being cleared away or whatever.
"But in the last two games our luck has certainly started to change, things are falling to us inside the box and hopefully we can get more of that luck on Saturday.
"But the positive thing for us is that we are creating chances and we are getting bodies in the box."
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