Celtic ease to 4-1 win over St Johnstone to restore nine-point lead over Rangers

Celtic flexed their muscles at St Johnstone to ensure the weekend ended with their nine-point lead over Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership still intact.

Rangers beat Ross County 2-1 at Ibrox on Saturday but the champions refused to be pressurised at McDiarmid Park in a convincing win.

Saints defender Andrew Considine turned a Kyogo Furuhashi cross into his own net in the 13th minute and the Japan striker notched midway through the first half before Drey Wright pulled a goal back three minutes later.

Midfielder Aaron Mooy restored Celtic's two-goal lead in the 38th minute with Considine – appearing in his 600th club game – sent off by referee David Dickinson in added time for a pull on Oh Hyeon-gyu, with fellow substitute David Turnbull adding the fourth from the resulting free-kick.

Ange Postecoglou's champions have lost once in 25 league games this season and once again they looked a formidable outfit.

St Johnstone’s 2-0 win at Motherwell on Wednesday was their first victory in eight games but little was expected against the Parkhead men.

James Brown, Tony Gallacher, Graham Carey and Connor McLennan came into the home side’s line-up while Postecoglou made just one change, with Mooy replacing Matt O’Riley in midfield for the lunchtime kick-off where the home side battled hard to get an early foothold in the game.

The Hoops slowly gained control and took take the lead when Furuhashi raced on to a pass from Mooy and from the byline his attempted ball towards fellow Japanese team-mates Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate was turned into his own net from close range by the helpless Considine.

The early blow to the belief of the Perth side was compounded in the 22nd minute when Furuhashi fired high past Perth goalkeeper Remi