Celtic 4-1 St. Johnstone: Player ratings as Bhoys go nine points clear at Christmas
By Henry Burt
Celtic will spend Christmas Day nine points clear at the summit of the Scottish Premiership after an emphatic 4-1 victory over St. Johnstone at Celtic Park.
Ange Postecoglou's side have been imperious in the league this season, winning 17 of their 18 matches and losing just once, and they carried that form into today's match despite facing a St. Johnstone side in good form.
Reo Hatate gave the Bhoys the lead inside the opening quarter of an hour and from then onwards it was essentially a procession, with Kyogo Furuhashi doubling the advantage only four minutes later.
It was a great day at the office for Celtic's Japanese contingent, with Hatate and Furuhashi grabbing two goals each while Daizen Maeda also had a solid game.
Drey Wright pulled one back for the visitors with around 20 minutes of the match left, the goal being confirmed after a lengthy VAR check, but it was little more than a consolation as Celtic made it 11 consecutive wins in the Scottish Premiership.
There was time for some late drama as David Turnbull received a red card for Celtic following another VAR check, but this was only a mild dampener on another solid day's work for Postecoglou and company.
Celtic player ratings
GK: Joe Hart (6); RB: Reo Hatate (9), CB: Cameron Carter Vickers (7), CB: Carl Starfelt (8), LB: Greg Taylor (7); CDM: Callum McGregor (9), CM: O'Riley (8), CM: Aaron Mooy (8); RW: Daizen Maeda (7), LW: James Forrest (8); ST: Kyogo Furuhashi (9).
SUBS: Liel Abada (7), Jota (6), Sead Haksabanovic (6), Georgios Giakoumakis (6), David Turnbull (5).
St. Johnstone player ratings
GK: Remi Matthews (5); CB: Ryan McGowan (6), CB: Liam Gordon (5), CB: Andrew Considine (5); RWB: Drey Wright (6), CM: Graham Carey (6), CM: Daniel Phillips (6), CM: Melker Hallberg (6), LWB: James Brown (5); ST: Nicky Clark (6), ST: Stevie May (5).
SUBS: Connor McLennan (6), Cameron MacPherson (6), Alexandar Mitchell (6), Alistair Crawford (6), Thelonius Bair (N/A).