Celtic coach praises work of St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright

Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies. Picture: Craig Foy/SNS

The league leaders came out on top when the teams met at Parkhead just over a week ago thanks to a goal from recently returned defender Dedryck Boyata.

Brendan Rodgers’ side are unbeaten in 28 domestic games since the start of the season and have won their last 18 Premiership matches.

The runaway league leaders look to extend that impressive run at McDiarmid Park against Tommy Wright’s fifth-placed Saints side, who were the last Scottish side to beat Celtic with a 2-1 win in Perth in the penultimate game of last season when Ronny Deila was in charge.

With the most recent meeting still fresh in Davies’ mind – as well as the 4-2 win at McDiarmid Park earlier in the season – Rodgers’ right-hand man praised the Saints boss for getting the best out of his squad.

“I think Tommy maximises the resources he has,” said Davies, pictured. “I think they have a great spirit, they have a bit of quality in there and they can be a difficult team to play against.

“We beat them at Celtic Park by a goal but we are away from home this time. When we went there earlier in the season, we went ahead early in the game and they fought back.

“That is what they have got, they have a real spirit about them and a mentality and that is an enormous part of being a good team.

“Obviously we analysed the game we played against them and we have got some ideas for the game-plan for this game and we are expecting a difficult game.”