Celtic determined to give Martin O'Neill 'the best birthday gift you can have' against Rangers

One thing is for sure: O’Neill will spend his big day at the home of Rangers. What is less certain is the celebrating part.

Celtic face their arch-rivals on Sunday lunchtime needing three points to keep the Premiership title race in their own hands. Currently third in a battle with Rangers in second and leaders Hearts, their margin for error diminished dramatically when they lost 2-1 at home to Hibs a week ago.

It is why O’Neill will have told his wife Geraldine and his daughters that all he wants as a present is a win. A Celtic win at all costs.

Recently, Celtic have been gifting goals to others. While they reminded us how good they can be by winning 1-0 away at VfB Stuttgart when the pressure was largely off, domestically it has been a different matter. Clean sheets have been hard to come by of late. Late goals were required to salvage matches against Livingston, Dundee and Kilmarnock. Hibs was a step too far.

Midfielder Benjamin Nygren is one of the success stories for Celtic this season. A summer signing for just over £1.5 million, he has proved a shrewd bit of business with 18 goals in all competitions. When it was put to him that it is O’Neill’s birthday on March 1, the Swede immediately vowed to pull out all the stops.

“First of all, I didn't know that it was his birthday!” Nygren exclaimed. “We hope to give him the best birthday gift you can have. He has so much experience. For sure. He's brought a lot since he came back and also the first phase. But now when he came back as well, he has so much experience, knows so much. And he brings a lot of confidence to the whole team. So yeah, he's been brilliant.”

Big Celtic selection calls for O’Neill

Less so the team as a whole. Too many players have failed to perform when it has really mattered. Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate have not hit the heights of yore, January signings such as Junior Adamu and Tomas Cvancara are finding their feet and back in defence, centre-halves Auston Trusty and Liam Scales have been far from watertight. And then there is goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

The Dane has allowed too many soft strikes to pass through him. His deputy, Viljami Sinisalo, was given a rare outing against Stuttgart, which brought a solid performance and a shut-out. There is now clamour for the Finn to keep the gloves for Ibrox.

It is one of a few big calls for O’Neill. He is without the suspended Trusty for the next three matches. Dane Murray is in pole position to partner Scales at the heart of Celtic’s defence after his own decent display in Germany. If not, Brentford loanee Benjamin Arthur - just 20 - could be given a full debut in one of football’s fiercest rivalries.

Nygren isn’t overly concerned about who comes in behind him. “We have so many good players,” he said. “Our new signing, Benji, came in the last game when Auston got sent off and he's been looking good in training. And Dane Murray was playing yesterday and gave a very strong performance. So we have a lot of good players in every position.”

Tough schedule will define season

They will be needed. Celtic will come under pressure at Ibrox. Rangers are in good form even if they too dropped points last weekend with a surprise 2-2 draw at Livingston. Their last home match was one of their best of the season, a 4-2 triumph over Hearts, where the old stadium was back to its raucous best.

The Glasgow pair meet next weekend too, back at Ibrox on Scottish Cup duty. In between, Celtic head to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen midweek in what is their game in hand over Rangers and Hearts. After cup duties, their next three league matches are Motherwell at home and two trips to Tayside to face Dundee United and Dundee. It is a gruelling schedule - and one that will almost certainly define whether Celtic are on course for some silverware.

A trophyless campaign is not worth thinking about for a club that has been feasting on trebles recently. The glory days of Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou are in the past now, but so is the wretched, brief tenure of Wilfried Nancy - the hapless head coach who was in the Celtic dugout on January 3 when Rangers caused trouble in paradise with a 3-1 win.

O’Neill has been in post ever since, for the second time this season. The defeat by Hibs was his first domestically this season but Celtic are not as convincing as they were earlier in the campaign under his watch. The Stuttgart result could, however, be the springboard to some better form.

“It was a very, very good night, a very good win against a top side,” reasoned Nygren. “They’re doing very well in the Bundesliga, so it's a very good team that we were facing and, yeah, a strong performance that brings a lot of confidence to the team.

“We go into every game to win. That's what we're doing on Sunday. It definitely hurt the last time [against Rangers]. You try to recover as fast as possible even though it hurts a bit extra. But yeah, as everyone knows, the games come so fast. So you need to shift your focus as fast as possible and not live in the past for too long.”

For some, Celtic’s title hopes will be consigned to the past if they don’t show up at Ibrox. And that really would ruin O’Neill’s special day ...