Celtic won’t be thinking about going the entire league season undefeated when the teams meet at Parkhead tomorrow night, according to St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright.
And Saints won’t be thinking about becoming the side that stops it from happening.
“I don’t think the record will be on their minds at all,” Wright said.
“Maybe if it was the final game of the season and they’re still unbeaten it might be, but from Brendan’s point of view all he’ll be interested in is getting a win.
“He wants to get the league won as quickly as possible and everything will be focused on making that happen.
“So Celtic will approach this game like every other, they will go into every game expecting to win it.
“Records like that don’t come into players and managers’ heads at this stage of a season.”
Wright added: “Of course it would be nice to beat them but you can only think about that afterwards.
“We’re not banging our chests saying ‘let’s become the first team to beat them’ or anything like that.
“We just want to get something from the game, whether that’s one point or three, so our focus is on giving ourselves the best chance to do that.
“It’s a huge achievement for the smaller clubs like ours to go to Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen and get something.
“We have a decent record of doing it in the past but that doesn’t count for anything now.
“Our away record has been good this season – apart from the last game against Dundee – but we have to get to the levels we’ve shown before.
“We go into these games intending to enjoy them, it’s a challenge and players like being challenged.
“You go there as underdogs, so there’s the chance to prove people wrong and we like that.
“Nobody expects us to get anything from it so you can use that.”
Murray Davidson is back in the Saints squad for tomorrow’s game, with Richard Foster suspended.
“We have no fresh injury worries,” Wright reported.
“With four games coming up in quick succession we will have to use the whole squad.
“It was good to get Keith Watson back playing again.
“He has been fit for two months but with Richard in such good form he’s had to wait for his chance.
“It was important for him to get 90 minutes before he plays against Celtic.
“Keith is a very good player and so far here he’s just been unfortunate.”
Meanwhile, Wright is happy to have another McDiarmid Park Scottish Cup tie to look forward to, after they were drawn to face Partick Thistle in the last 16.
“We’re happy to get a home tie,” he said.
“The games between the two sides have been close in recent seasons so it’s going to be a tough game.
“But the main thing is a home tie, so we’ll look forward to it when it comes around.”
