O’Neill plays down Celtic lead after seven-goal victory over Hearts

Martin O’Neill played down the significance of Celtic’s four-point lead in the Scottish Premiership after their 7-1 victory over Hearts, saying it was too early in the season to treat the advantage as decisive. Speaking to BBC Scotland after the match, the manager welcomed his team’s performance but resisted describing the result as a statement win in the title race.

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The victory over last season’s runners-up was Celtic’s biggest since O’Neill returned to the club last year, according to BBC Sport. It left them four points ahead of nearest challengers Rangers, with a goal difference 12 better than their rivals. Hearts were third in the table, making the scale of the result particularly notable against another side near the top.

Callum Osmand and Benjamin Nygren each scored twice, while Camilo Duran contributed a goal and two assists. Nygren’s double took the Sweden international midfielder to eight goals for the season. Osmand, Nygren, Duran and Haissem Hassan formed the attacking quartet highlighted in the BBC report, with Celtic’s forward play central to a victory that produced seven goals against Hearts.

O’Neill praised both the quality of the goals and his defence’s work during periods of pressure. He said the back four had received important support from the players ahead of them. His assessment extended beyond the attacking display, with the collective defensive effort also contributing to his satisfaction after a result he said Celtic would enjoy that evening.

Despite that performance, O’Neill did not suggest he had settled on an unchanged first-choice line-up. He said the sequence of league and European matches would demand rotation, describing the period through to the beginning of January as a sustained run of fixtures. Giving other players minutes, he added, helped both the squad and the team’s confidence.

The manager also confirmed he intended to make adjustments for Thursday’s Europa League meeting with Celta Vigo. Both clubs had lost their opening two league-phase matches, leaving Celtic needing to recover ground in Europe despite their domestic position. O’Neill stressed the importance of securing a win for momentum, while maintaining that the Premiership lead itself remained modest at this stage of the campaign.