Simon Donnelly knows first-hand that even although Celtic already have the title wrapped up, they will definitely not be taking their foot off the gas at Tannadice on Saturday.
The Dundee United assistant manager had a successful spell as a player at Celtic Park and he is well aware that the demands of the Hoops fans and boss Neil Lennon mean that the Tangerines will have to be at their best if they hope to take anything from the game.
However, United will go into the match confident on the back of great run of form, having been unlucky not to have won the last time the sides met at Celtic Park.
The Tangerines took the lead that day back in November through Stuart Armstrong and had a great chance to extend their advantage which Brian Graham passed up, with Charlie Mulgrew securing a share of the spoils for the Hoops with a late equaliser.
Donnelly said: “I’m not sure if it’s a good time to get Celtic because they still have real quality there. At the weekend, on the back of winning the title in midweek, things looked a wee bit flat at Parkhead against Ross County.
“But Lenny’s in the papers saying he wants to win all of their remaining games to achieve a record points total.
“I wouldn’t say Ross County have given us encouragement. I’d say it’s more that our own last two performances against them should encourage us. We can hold our own against them.”
He added: “We lost to a last-minute free-kick at Tannadice and in the match at Parkhead we had a great chance to kill the game and make it 2-0 but didn’t take it.
“They went up the park and scored in injury time but we’ve shown we can compete with them and we’re looking forward to it.
“There will be no fear from our lads. The boys actually took a massive lift from that performance at Parkhead. Off the back of that we went on a great run and you could see their confidence.
“I wouldn’t say it’s hard for Celtic’s players to keep going because the title is won. They’re professionals and they should keep going. Neil wouldn’t allow anything other than that.”
United drew 1-1 up at Pittodrie against Aberdeen on Saturday and, although they felt they had a couple of strong penalty claims denied, especially one involving Stuart Armstrong, Donnelly felt the outcome of the game was the correct one.
He also insisted that their European qualification dream is still very much alive.
He said: “It was a fair result on Saturday because both teams had good spells in the game. We went one up and had good chances to make it two but Aberdeen came back strongly and we were happy with a point.
“I’ve looked at Stuart Armstrong’s penalty claim again and I’m not convinced that he was impeded.
“Not a lot has changed in terms of our European ambitions. We now have a big game on Saturday against Celtic that we have to look to take three points from.
“Aberdeen and Motherwell have games in hand but nothing has changed because we have still to play both of those teams.
“We’re trying to win every game. On reflection, Saturday was a good result but we wanted to go there and win.”