Celtic warmed up for their trip to face Rangers at Ibrox next Sunday in fine style as a second half goal rush brushed Livingston aside in West Lothian.

The hosts proved a hard defence to crack early on, but Celtic eventually broke their resistance through a Jamie Brandon own goal, and further strikes from substitute Paulo Bernardo and Matt O’Riley gave their huge travelling support the Easter Sunday celebration they came for.

Here are the talking points from Almondvale as Celtic returned to the top of the Premiership, with their fans loudly proclaiming 'Bring on the Rangers' at full time...

REO HATATE IMPRESSES UPON HIS RETURN

The Japanese midfielder made his long-awaited return to action for Celtic, his first appearance since early January after injuring his calf playing for his country at the Asian Cup, and it was immediately evident what he brings to the party.

The Celtic fans chanted his name loudly from the off, and he was straight into the action, picking up the ball from the backline and quickly passing it forward, bringing a dynamism to the midfield that Brendan Rodgers’ side has sorely lacked at times this season in his absence.

Some of his penetrative passing was a joy to behold, picking out the runs of Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn in behind on the right and Daizen Maeda on the left.

The end product from those areas didn’t always match the supply, but Hatate himself almost provided it himself as a frustrating first half for the visitors dragged on, curling a right foot effort just past from the edge of the area.

It was no surprise though that he played a central role as Celtic finally broke the deadlock shortly after the break, his shot being saved by Livi keeper Shamal George and somehow rebounding back into the home net via the hapless Brandon.

Hatate’s performance was a real fillip for Celtic ahead of next weekend’s potentially pivotal Old Firm clash against Rangers, particularly with captain Callum McGregor also poised to make the game at Ibrox on Sunday.

When Hatate was withdrawn to be replaced by Bernardo on the hour, the Celtic crowd around three quarters of the stadium rose to acclaim his showing. The difference that these players make to this Celtic side, as Hatate showed here, is massive.

LIVI WILL KICK THEMSELVES FOR OPENER

For all that Celtic fashioned one or two openings in the first half, and felt they may have had a penalty – more on that later – the Livi defence had managed to frustrate the champions for the most part and had limited them to mostly speculative efforts from outside the area.

The one real exception came when Kyogo Furuhashi managed to turn Ayo Obileye inside the area and draw a very decent save from George, but that came as the clock ticked into stoppage time, and home manager Davie Martindale would have been pleased with how his men had managed to keep Celtic at arm’s length for the most part.

Unfortunately for them, they blew all their good work shortly after the interval as some slack play by Steven Bradley ultimately allowed the visitors to open the scoring.

A high cross was lofted towards the back post, and as Bradley attempted to take a touch and shepherd it to safety, Kuhn was just too sharp for him, nipping in to nick the ball and lay it back for Hatate to get the shot away that would end up in the back of the net via a spot of pinball.

Martindale went apoplectic on the touchline, berating his men for failing to clear their lines, and from there, there was only one winner.

SHOULD CELTIC HAVE HAD A PENALTY?

The main talking point of the first half was a potential penalty for Celtic as Kyogo went down under the challenge of Livi captain Mikey Devlin, the striker stealing in front of the defender as he looked to clear a low cross into the area.

Referee Don Robertson waved away the Celtic appeals, and VAR official Alan Muir very quickly dismissed any notion that he would invite his colleague over to the pitchside screen for a second look.

It was a bit of strange one, in truth, with the incident falling into the ‘seen them given’ and ‘soft variety’ all at once, and had Robertson awarded the spot kick on the field, then again, it is doubtful that Muir would have deemed it a clear and obvious error and overturned the call.

The officials, and the soon to be retiring Crawford Allan, will likely be relieved that Celtic went on to win and the incident will now be a footnote to the game rather than the main talking point of the next week leading up to next Sunday.

BERNARDO SERVES A REMINDER

Amid the excitement at the imminent returns of Hatate and McGregor, it has been somewhat forgotten just what a vital contribution Bernardo has made to this Celtic side in their absence at points throughout this season. But the Portuguese midfielder didn’t take long to serve a reminder of his talents after replacing Hatate.

He drove forward from the middle of the park, holding off the close attentions of two Livingston players to fashion a one-two with O’Riley before slamming the ball low into George’s bottom right-hand corner from the edge of the box.

It was a fine finish, and while it will likely be the first-choice trio of McGregor, Hatate and O’Riley who will take their place in the midfield at Ibrox, it is unlikely that the first two of those will make it through the 90 minutes.

Rodgers will be reassured at the depth he now has in that area with the likes of Bernardo and Tomoki Iwata – who was also impressive here.

O’RILEY BACK ON FORM AND BACK IN THE GOALS

The perception has been that O’Riley has just come off the boil a little since the January offer from Atletico Madrid that was rebuffed by Celtic, and he came into this one with just one goal in his last 11 matches for the club.

He seemed right back at it here though, and as well as his assist for Bernardo, he got the goal his performance merited late on to put the icing on the cake for Celtic. Though, George will be disappointed that the ball rather went through him.

All in all, it was an encouraging afternoon for Celtic, with their big players finding form ahead of next week’s Ibrox showdown.