Win over Rangers would seal great year, says James Forrest

The champions are 11 points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership albeit the Dons have a game in hand against Partick Thistle on Wednesday night.

Brendan Rodgers' treble-winning side of last season have the Betfred Cup back in the trophy room and a Europa League tie against Zenit St Petersburg to look forward to in February.

And since losing 4-0 to Hearts at Tynecastle to end their 69-game unbeaten domestic run, Celtic have taken nine points from nine without conceding a goal, with the 26-year-old Scotland winger scoring his 12th goal of the season in a 2-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park on Boxing Day.

The visit of the Light Blues will be the Parkhead side's ninth game in December and Forrest is looking for victory against their city rivals at Celtic Park before the top flight closes for the winter break.

He said: "It's been a great first half to the season.

"We've hit all our goals so far, so to finish it off on Saturday with a win would be really good.

"We're still in Europe after Christmas so that's a big boost for us when we come back.

"But we've got one last big push and we'll give it our all.

"When we're at our best it's hard for anyone who plays us.

"We just need to start well and work hard and we're ready to do that."

Forrest believes Celtic have recovered their confidence since the shock defeat in Gorgie.

The former Hoops youth player said: "Fair play to Hearts, they were better than us on the day and we know we could have done better.

"But we didn't get ourselves down.

"We've kept going and we've picked up some good results.

"We've been really solid. We've been defending from the front and the back four have been really solid in the last couple of games. Our performance against Dundee was really good.

"I'm buzzing with getting a goal and I want to score more goals for the team, so hopefully I just keep doing that.

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