Celtic aim to dispel Euro disappointment

The Hoops crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday as a 2-0 loss to Malmo in their play-off round second leg condemned the Scottish champions to a 4-3 aggregate defeat.

The Glasgow giants, who now have to be content with a place in the Europa League, do not have long to lick their wounds before they face a stern test in the shape of Saturday's visitors. 

St Johnstone won on their last visit to Celtic Park back in March and Celtic winger Gary Mackay-Steven is well aware of the danger the McDiarmid Park side will pose the Hoops.

"It won't be easy and St Johnstone always give us a good game," Mackay-Steven said.

"The last time at Celtic Park they even beat us, so we’ll be looking to rectify that and definitely bounce back.

"The fans travelled in good numbers to Malmo expecting a good result, as were we, but unfortunately we didn™t do that. So we need to focus on our other targets this season and get back to winning.

"We’re at home, we’re expected to win, but we want to put on a performance and get this one out of the system.

"Other teams have had a good start in the league, and we knew that there were going to be other good teams, but we know what we can do and we need to get back to showing that on the park."

Teammate Kris Commons says it's important Celtic return to winning ways to get the European disappointment out their system and keep the pressure on surprise league leaders Hearts.

"Theres nothing better than getting on the park when you’ve had a disappointment like this. We want to get out there, play some football and get things going again, but this season is just starting," Commons said.

"We’ve had another disappointing European campaign but as we showed last year, we can still go on to have a great season."

Elsewhere on Saturday, table toppers Hearts face a trip to New Douglas Park to take on Hamilton, who have won their past two league matches. Aberdeen will attempt to continue their 100 per cent start to the season when they face Partick Thistle at Firhill and bottom of the table Kilmarnock take on fellow strugglers Motherwell.

On Sunday, there is a top of the table clash in the Championship as top of the table Rangers take on Queen of the South. The Gers have won their first seven competitive games of the season under new manager Mark Warburton while Queen of the South also have a 100 per cent record in the league.

Fixtures (1400GMT unless otherwise stated)

Saturday

Celtic v St Johnstone

Dundee v Inverness CT

Hamilton v Hearts

Motherwell v Kilmarnock

Partick Thistle v Aberdeen

Ross County v Dundee United