CELTIC manager Ange Postecoglou has voiced his appreciation after the Parkhead support took a “leap of faith” in backing him in the tumultuous early weeks of his tenure.

A Champions League exit at the earliest hurdle was followed by three league defeats and a draw across the first seven games of the campaign, a run of form that saw Celtic’s sit on a wing and a prayer after shipping 11 points from a possible 21.

A win over Rangers this afternoon would crystalise the turnaround with the three points confirming the Cinch Premiership title in all but name; going into the final four games of the season Celtic currently boast a six-point lead and a goal difference that is superior to Rangers by 19.

“The support has been behind the team all year,” said the Greek-Australian. “They have really had a leap of faith with this team and backed it form the start when maybe it wasn’t quite so evident that we could be successful this year.

“They know we are in the final stretch and I’m sure they will want to make Sunday as much of an electric atmosphere as they can. They will try to help the team along and our role is to try and reciprocate by putting on a performance that reflects the support we have had all year.”

One of Celtic’s best performances of this season came the night they put themselves on top of the league for the first time in the campaign. The pulsating February win over Rangers was played at a whirlwind with Celtic spooking the Ibrox side with the manner in which they streamrolled over the top of them.

It put Celtic in control of their own destiny after going into the winter break six points adrift of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side. This afternoon is the third meeting between the teams in the past month with Celtic winning at Ibrox and losing at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

“Day or night I don’t think it matters. It’s going to be a cracking atmosphere,” said Postecoglou. “With this team there have been other games where we have played better for longer spells.

“But on that particular night for 45 minutes we showed against a very good opponent how we can play. And that was pleasing for me because it gave us encouragement to push on.

“It showed that this group was willing to embrace the challenge of playing our football in the toughest of tests.

“It was our chance to go to top spot for the first time all year. After working awfully hard and chasing all season we knew the significance of that. Irrespective of the atmosphere we knew how much it meant and you build yourself up for that.

“You wait and see what the reaction is from the players but the whole group was fantastic even though many of them were experiencing that derby for the first time.

“Boys like [Matt] O’Riley, [Reo] Hatate and [Daizen] Maeda, for those kind of guys to stand up on a night like that and for the whole group to put on a performance knowing it was going to be so significant in terms of the league was pretty special.”

Rangers have made a name for themselves this term with their Europa League that has taken them to the semi-finals of the tournament.

The adopted a conservative approach for Thursday night’s first-leg against Leipzig with the Bundesliga side taking a 1-0 lead to Ibrox for the return. It remains to be seen how they approach Sunday’s game – and if Celtic go for the jugular as they did when the last hosted Rangers.

“On Thursday they had a very different objective,” observed Postecoglou. “On Sunday they have to beat us so I guess from our perspective we just have to prepare ourselves to play the football we can and make sure that we get as dominant as we can early in the game which is something we have done all year at Celtic Park.

“We want to put them on the back foot and capitalise on those moments where we have the advantage. We understand that the games are running out and that every game we win between now and the end of the year gets us closer to our goal.

“There’s no doubt a win on Sunday gets us closer. There’s no shying away from that. But that was the case last week too. If we didn’t get three points against Ross County the margin would have been narrowed and there would be a different context around this game.

“Our job is to make sure we play as well as we possibly can and if we do that then it gives us a good chance of success.

“If we have success then we move a step closer to where we want to be.”