Brendan Rodgers hailed Scott Sinclair after his hat-trick helped Celtic to a 4-3 over Aberdeen at Pittodrie which saw five goals in the final 14 minutes.
The winger put the Hoops ahead after six minutes but that advantage was cancelled in the 24th minute when Dons forward Stevie May scored from the spot.
Sinclair restored the Hoops lead in the 76th minute but in the 83rd minute the home side drew level again from the spot through Sam Cosgrove.
Substitute Odsonne Edouard made it 3-2 before setting up Sinclair for his third and although Lewis Ferguson reduced the leeway again in the 90th minute the visitors took the spoils to take them three points ahead of Rangers with a game in hand before the trip to Ibrox on Saturday.
Rodgers was pleased with a "brilliant" result and said of Sinclair: "He knows where the goal is.
"He wants to be in there to score. He has done it since I knew him at 16 years of age as a young player.
"In big games he has always produced. He loves that type of occasion and all his finishes were very good.
"And young Odsonne coming into the game for that last period, he made a big difference in relation to his penetration in behind.
"His goal was brilliant, to score with that composure and poise, it is a brilliant finish to dink the keeper and then his speed and power to get through to square for Scotty's hat-trick. It was very good all-round."
Rodgers admitted there was a question mark over over left-back Kieran Tierney, out again with a hip injury, for the Rangers game.
The Northern Irishman said: "We will see in the next 48 hours. If not, it is unfortunate, but we have others to come into the squad and it is always an opportunity."
Reports claim that Celtic are in pole position to sign 18-year-old Timothy Weah from Paris St Germain on loan. When asked if there was anything to add, Rodgers said:
"No, other than he is the son of George who was a very good player.
"Nothing to add. Of course we want to bring in players in January. He is a very talented kid who we are aware of, but nothing else."
Dons boss Derek McInnes claimed the introduction of fit-again Edouard, signed from Paris St Germain in the summer after a loan spell at Parkhead, for Callum McGregor in the 70th minute when it was 1-1, made all the difference.
He said: "In the dying embers of the game, when that physical output from our players with defenders tired having been worked all the game, and then a £10million striker comes on and can impose himself on it with his running power and his freshness, that did pay dividends for them.
"You have to applaud Celtic for their attacking intent in that last wee period, it was very good."
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association sport staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'de5c6bd3-5c72-4a5b-9bba-bf6a6f5fd94c');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Rodgers praises Sinclair for hat-trick performance'});
