Alan Archibald expects tough time for Partick Thistle at Champions Celtic
Partick Thistle boss Alan Archibald is wary ahead of the trip to a celebrating Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
Partick Thistle boss Alan Archibald is wary ahead of the trip to a celebrating Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
The Parkhead club clinched their sixth successive Ladbrokes Premiership title on Sunday with a 5-0 thrashing of Hearts at Tynecastle, and the Jags boss expects the Hoops fans to turn up in their numbers to welcome the champions back.
Brendan Rodgers' men are unbeaten domestically since the start the season with 28 wins and two draws in the league.
Archibald, whose side narrowly lost 1-0 at Celtic Park in December, is bracing himself for a challenging evening.
"The timing is not great,'' he told Press Association Sport. "I don't think you want to go there the first game after they've won the league.
" I think there will be a full house to cheer the champions, so we need to make sure we're ready for the first 15 to 20 minutes.
"I don't think much will change with them.
"They have been relentless all season, regardless of fixtures and what they have got on, so we know we are in for a tough evening.
"We went there in December and equipped ourselves very well and made a number of good chances. We ticked most boxes, apart from the goal we gave away.
"We limited them to very little and our goalkeeper performed when he had to perform.
"The negative was that we never took our chances. You have to tick all the boxes to get a result there and we didn't quite do them all.''
Thistle travel across the city in good form themselves.
The Maryhill men are unbeaten in six league games and hoping to remain in sixth place before the split.
Archibald believes three points towards that aim is much more important than being the first Scottish team to beat Celtic this season.
The former Thistle defender said: "A win would be fantastic.
"For us, it would get us closer to finishing in the top six. That's our aim, to win the game for that.
"It's not really about the glory of beating Celtic, it's getting the points on the board.''
Star strikers Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths are again missing for Celtic through injury.
However, Archibald watched the Hoops cope more than comfortably in the absence of the deadly duo against Hearts, where Scott Sinclair scored a hat-trick.
He said: "I thought they were incredible. Hearts really gave them a game for the first 20 minutes and then Celtic showed that bit of quality.
"Usually it does make a team weaker when they lose two star players but it just shows you how good a squad they've got because they were outstanding .
"We know what we are up against, it will be a real tough evening.''