Crosas cheered by Celtic improvement

Marc Crosas believes Celtic are slowly reaching the standards new boss Tony Mowbray has demanded of them as they prepare for Saturday’s visit of Aberdeen.

The mood around Celtic Park has been downbeat in recent weeks as the Hoops struggled for consistency, while they were eliminated from the Europa League despite defeating Hapoel Tel-Aviv at home on Wednesday.

But following last weekend’s win over St Mirren in the Scottish Premier League and a good performance in their 2-0 victory against Hapoel, the midfielder is confident Celtic can put together a run of wins on the domestic front to remain top of the table.

“I thought we played very well against Hapoel,” explained the former Barcelona player.

“We have had other good performances already this season but this was certainly one of our better displays. After winning at the weekend against St Mirren, it was good to build on that with a win over Hapoel.

“And it is now our hope that we can continue to win games. We want to go on a run of games where we keep winning as we know we must now focus on the title and trying to win the league this season. That is our aim.

“I feel we have good players and are a good side and we are showing that now which is very pleasing.”

Crosas and his team-mates will face an Aberdeen side in confident mood after their 1-0 win over rivals Rangers at Pittodrie last weekend.

It has been nearly 30 years since the Dons recorded back-to-back-wins over the Old Firm, but Crosas said the Hoop have also been buoyed by their recent performances and will be looking for their third home win in a row.

“Aberdeen will be full of confidence after winning that game,” he said. “But so are we as we have just enjoyed two good victories and also two good performances. So we will go into the game feeling good about ourselves.

“Of course, it will be a difficult game. But we will be hoping to take all three points and keep ourselves at the top of the SPL table.”

Celtic will be without Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney due to injury but goalkeeper Artur Boruc could make his return after a long lay-off.

In the early kick-off, Rangers will have to pick themselves up from last weekend’s defeat – their first in the league since March – for their visit to bottom club Falkirk.

Walter Smith’s side could go top and put the pressure on Celtic with a win but the Bairns are brimming with confidence after picking up their first win of the season against Hamilton last week.

Smith says his side can’t afford to be slow coming out the blocks.

“I don’t think it’s a physical thing because we had plenty of time after Tuesday to recover and if it was tiredness it would hit us at the end of games rather than the start,” the Rangers manager said.

“It’s more of a mental thing than anything else and when you have had disappointing performances in big games, like the Champions League ones at home, then it does have an effect.

“But we’ve had enough warnings this season and I mentioned a number of times in the run-up to Aberdeen that we couldn’t afford to be slow to start.”

David Weir, 39, will make his 100th appearance for Rangers when he leads the side out against old club Falkirk.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Hibernian take on Motherwell, Dundee United face St Mirren and Kilmarnock are away to St Johnstone.

On Sunday, Hamilton, who are just one point off the relegation zone, take on Hearts at New Douglas Park.

Fixtures (1500GMT unless otherwise stated)

Saturday

Celtic v Aberdeen, Dundee United v St Mirren, Falkirk v Rangers (1230GMT), Hibernian v Motherwell, St Johnstone v Kilmarnock

Sunday (1245GMT)

Hamilton v Hearts