Neil Lennon discusses "huge" Celtic title advantage

| 22 March 2019

Celtic take on Rangers in their first match after the international break with a 10-point lead over their rivals.

Neil Lennon will not allow Celtic to relax at the top despite stretching their Ladbrokes Premiership lead to 10 points.

Last weekend's late win at Dundee saw the Hoops take another step closer towards their eighth straight title.

Lennon – who kicked off that run with three championship triumphs before passing over the reins to Ronny Deila – is determined to finish off this season's job after returning to Parkhead to take over from the departed Brendan Rodgers.

And he believes the champions will only grow in strength as his injured stars return to duty while he gets a better feel of the squad he inherited.

Celtic return to action against Rangers a week on Sunday following the international break, and Lennon believes the 10-point lead is a psychological advantage over their arch rivals.

The Northern Irishman told the Celtic View: "Psychologically, going into the international break with this sort of lead is huge.

"A team is the sum of all parts. I needed my goalkeeper on Sunday to make a brilliant save just before half-time.

"We're keeping clean sheets although, at times, we're struggling to break teams down, but we've also got the likes of Callum McGregor coming back in and that makes us better.

"The forward lads are also trying to do what they can up there, but when teams are sitting with 10 behind the ball, that makes things very difficult for us.

"But again, this team keeps going, and we ultimately got what we deserved. Other teams would have drawn that and would have gone away happy with that, but this team just doesn't do that.

"The gap is significant, but we take nothing for granted. The gap between first and second is now bigger than second and third, which again is significant for us. I'm looking forward to taking stock, getting more accustomed to the players, and them getting more accustomed to me in the next couple of weeks.

"We can now assess things, and get some bodies back. We're stretched a bit at the minute, and it'll be nice to get some more bodies back in.

"We're lacking a bit of creativity at times, and I think those players coming back in will be good for that."

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