It took Celtic until seven minutes into the second half at Parkhead to break the deadlock, with Callum McGregor powering in a shot from 25 yards before, moments later, fellow midfielder Ryan Christie made it 2-0 with a curling effort.

Victory in this rearranged fixture meant Celtic had won 12 out of 12 home league matches so far this season and the Glasgow giants' latest success also added to the pressure on the chasing Rangers and Kilmarnock.

But cautious Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was taking nothing for granted.

"It is still very early, there is still a lot more games to go," he said. "We are just entering into the beginning of February soon."

The former Liverpool boss added: "We have looked at that free game for the last two months, everyone has looked at it and thought 'Are they going to win it because they are playing against a good side', and we did that and played very well.

"It is six points which is nice, a good goal difference, clean sheets, defending very well but still a way to go."