3 talking points as sizzling Celtic hit St Johnstone for SEVEN to welcome Kyogo back in style

Rampant Celtic cleared another Premiership title hurdle with consummate ease as they hit struggling St Johnstone for sevem.

Ange Postecoglou's side had the points wrapped up with less than 40 minutes played and it's three which takes them nine clear of defending champions Rangers, who play St Mirren on Sunday.

Last weekend's derby victory at Ibrox put the Parkhead men in control of the title race, a win savoured in front of only 700 of their fans.

But they put on a show for a capacity crowd back home as goals from Reo Hatate, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Daizen Maeda, Josip Juranovic, Liel Abada and a double from Matt O'Riley blew relegation threatened Saints away.

Supporters were further treated to the return of Kyogo Furuhashi, whose troublesome hamstring had kept him sidelined since the last time these two teams met in December.

His second-half arrival was greeted rapturously and further bolsters Postecoglou's options in the pursuit of a domestic Treble.

But another step towards the title was all that mattered here and that outcome was never in doubt.

St Johnstone immediately retreated to the 18 yard line but mustered only seven minutes of resistance before Celtic made the breakthrough.

Saints had several opportunities to clear as home shirts poured into the box, and they kept it alive just long enough for Greg Taylor to cut back for Hatate to sweep into the far corner.

It set the tone for some relentless one way traffic.

Tom Rogic danced his way through for what looked a sure second, only to toe-poke against Zander Clark before Jota curled narrowly wide of the top corner as he drove in from the left.

The pressure was telling on the men from Perth and it proved fatal when Callum Booth panicked under pressure from