John Kennedy borrows from Rangers playbook as Celtic lieutenant echoes Philippe Clement's derby battle cry

Celtic assistant John Kennedy has echoed Philippe Clement - as he joined the Rangers boss in declaring his side ready for a massive derby day showdown.

The Hoops returned to the top of the table thanks to a Jamie Brandon own goal as well as strikes from Paolo Bernardo and Matt O'Riley against Livingston as they dominated the West Lothian strugglers at the Tony Macaroni Arena. Celtic appeared to be brimming with confidence as they controlled the 90 minutes against the Scottish Premiership's basement club - and Brendan Rodgers' lieutenant appeared to be buying into the hype after the final whistle.

Quizzed post match if Celtic were ready for Rangers, confident Kennedy responded: “I think we are. I think if you look at in terms of the way we are attacking, especially today, but our attacking game has really clicked in the last little while. Especially with the front players but even having Nic (Nicolas Kuhn) come into the equation. He initially had a period off when he was kind of unfit, but you now see that he is up to speed.

"Yang is back from suspension so we now have options, it's not just the starting players it's what comes in behind. We have got lots of options and everyone will contribute."

The comments are eerily similar to what Clement said when asked the same thing following Rangers 3-1 win over Hibs - but the bullish boss appears to be facing more injury problems than his counterparts in Glasgow's east end. He said: Clement said: “I’m confident we can win against anybody.

"Are we at our best right now? No. We’ve had injuries and some players are not at their best yet. But I also know that we can win that game and we have the quality to do it."

Both clubs are confident - and both are coming off of victories