GREG Taylor last night revealed that Celtic’s players are ignoring the 16 point lead that Rangers have built up in the Premiership and are focusing fully on extending their five game winning run.
This is a massive week for the Parkhead club, who beat Hamilton Accies 3-0 at the FOY Stadium on Boxing Day, in their bid to make Scottish football history and complete 10-In-A-Row.
If they can beat Dundee United at home on Wednesday and then win at Ibrox on Saturday they will pull closer to their city rivals in the league and increase their chances of retaining the title.
However, left back Taylor, who is hoping to get the nod to play in the derby from his manager Neil Lennon, knows that Celtic can’t afford to slip up against United first and foremost.
And he stressed that beating Micky Mellon’s team is the main concern for the quadruple treble winners, who have three games in hand, and not how far Steven Gerrard’s side are ahead of them.
“We’re just trying to plug away and focusing on the next game, which is Dundee United,” he said. “It’s important to put on another performance and get another three points.
“If we can continue doing that we’ll see where it takes us. I can assure you all of the management team’s focus will be on Wednesday and getting three points then.
“Of course there is a sizeable lead, but our focus is on ourselves, chipping away at it. It’s important to focus on Wednesday. It’s the next opportunity to get three more points and that’s what we’ll try to do.”
Taylor has been encouraged by how Celtic have performed in the past three weeks and feels that he and his team mates have got their self-belief back at a crucial stage in the season.
“I’m just grateful and thankful we’ve picked up a wee bit of late, again with an important win against Hamilton, and hopefully it can continue,” he said.
“I don’t know what the difference has been. Getting a wee bit of confidence back maybe. We were maybe a bit short of confidence. When you’re on a bad run its natural.
“Slowly but surely it’s important to chip away and get the three points which we did against Hamilton.”
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