Five key games on Celtic's march to the title

7 August, Hearts 1 - 2 Celtic The opening game of the season was a frantic, feisty, and hard-fought win for Celtic and was an early sign of the character that Brendan Rodgers' side have called upon all season. Scott Sinclair had only just signed for the club the day before, and on barely any sleep was thrust on to the bench, unfit and unfamiliar with the Premiership. Not that it mattered, as he scored the winner in the 81st minute to begin Celtic's march to the title.

Celtic's Scott Sinclair fires home a debut goal to put his side into the lead against Hearts at Tynecastle. Picture: Rob Casey/SNS

27 August, Celtic 4 - 1 Aberdeen

Aberdeen were considered to be the most likely to challenge Rodgers’ side after finishing a close second last season. That reasoning was thrown out of the window when Leigh Griffiths nutmegged Kenny McLean and thrashed the ball into the back of Joe Lewis’ net. Adam Rooney would grab an equaliser, but the pure attacking flair of this Celtic side soon overran the Dons, and goals from James Forrest, Scott Sinclair and Tom Rogic secured a major psychological victory.

10 September, Celtic 5 - 1 Rangers

Any hope from Rangers fans that their side, in their first term back in the top flight, could contain a marauding Celtic was extinguished in the sides’ first league derby for four years. It was the Moussa Dembele show from beginning to end. He scored a magnificent hat-trick and Celtic’s victory meant that after only five games there was already a four-point gap between the rivals, with a game in hand for Rodgers’ side. The scale of the challenge facing Rangers suddenly looked Himalayan.

3 December, Motherwell 3 - 4 Celtic

This was the closest any team got to destroying the so-far invincible domestic season. Motherwell outplayed Celtic for 70 minutes, leading 3-1 thanks to a brace from Louis Moult and a strike from Lionel Ainsworth despite Celtic not having conceded for ten hours of football before kick-off. That all changed when Patrick Roberts and then Stuart Armstrong scored a quickfire double to draw level, before Tom Rogic appeared on the edge of the area and thumped a 30-yard screamer in the 90th minute to secure another three points.

29 January, Celtic 4 - 0 Hearts

The moment Sinclair, Dembele and Armstrong et al beat the achievement of the likes of Tommy Gemmell, Bobby Lennox, and Jimmy Johnstone. Brendan Rodgers’ side beat the Lisbon Lions’ 26-game unbeaten domestic run from the start of the season masterminded by Jock Stein with an overwhelming display of attacking football to dispatch Hearts.