Kyogo Furuhashi fires double as Celtic stretch lead at top

Kyogo Furuhashi netted twice in five second-half minutes as Celtic extended their lead over Rangers to 14 points with a one-sided 4-0 win over St Johnstone.

Nicolas Kuhn had opened the scoring and substitute Daizen Maeda rounded off Celtic's second 4-0 victory in three days.

The win put Celtic further out of sight of Rangers ahead of their visit to Ibrox on 2 January after the Light Blues drew 2-2 against Motherwell.

It also completed a highly fruitful 2024 for Celtic, who end the year with just two defeats in all competitions plus all three major domestic trophies in their cabinet as well as their healthy lead in the William Hill Premiership table.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers handed Callum McGregor a rest from the start as he made four changes. Alistair Johnston and Kuhn were back in the starting line-up following injuries while Alex Valle and Reo Hatate also came in.

Saints also made four changes as Simo Valakari handed 17-year-old Fran Franczak a first start of the season and a first appearance since October 6.

Stand-in skipper Cameron Carter-Vickers shot over as Celtic tested Saints with some balls into the box early on.

It was one-way traffic and Furuhashi fired wide first time before Arne Engels had several efforts at goal, two of which drew saves from Josh Rae.

The 30th-minute opener came after a rare passage of possession from St Johnstone, who were exposed when Hatate won the ball on the halfway line. The midfielder fed Kuhn and the winger ran into the box before firing his 14th goal of the season.

Kuhn soon almost scored a spectacular second when he cut inside and curled towards the far top corner, but his effort was met by a similarly impressive stop from Rae.

A murmur of excitement had emanated from several sections