Hearts Vs Celtic: McInnes Braces for 12:30 BST Title Decider
Hearts and Celtic meet in hearts vs celtic at Celtic Park on Saturday lunchtime with the Scottish Premiership title on the line. Hearts hold a one-point lead after 37 games, and Celtic must win to defend their crown and keep five-in-a-row alive.
Celtic Park Decider
Derek McInnes said "It will be bedlam" as he prepares to take Hearts into the final-day showdown, and he also called the fixture "Pure box office". The match kicks off at 12:30 BST, turning a regular league slot into a winner-takes-all finish.
Hearts have led the league since September, so they arrive with the simplest route: avoid defeat and they are champions of Scotland for the first time since 1960. Celtic have the harder task because only victory protects the title.
Hearts Against Celtic
The form line tilts toward Hearts as well. They are unbeaten against Celtic in three meetings this season, including a 3-1 win at Tynecastle in October, and that defeat ended Brendan Rodgers' second spell as Celtic manager.
That result also feeds into the pressure on Celtic's current stand-in boss, Martin O'Neill, who said there was a "reasonable chance" the game could be his final home match in charge. He expects an "electric" atmosphere at Celtic Park, where the home side are chasing a seventh successive league victory.
Title Race Pressure
The scale of the contest is rare in Scottish football. No club outside Celtic and Rangers has finished top of the league since Aberdeen in 1985, and this is Scotland's first final-day title shootout between the top two since Rangers edged out Aberdeen in 1991.
Hearts' run-in has been uneven, with one point from four away games before the league split, but they answered that with three wins and a draw since the division split. Celtic arrive needing to protect home ground and history at the same time, while Hearts can end a title wait that has stretched back 64 years.
Radio Scotland's Sportsound goes on air from 11:30, and match highlights will follow on Sportscene, Scotland and iPlayer from 19:15. By the end of Saturday lunchtime, one club will have the championship and the other will be left with a result that changes the whole season.
