New guard shine for sizzling Celtic as Hearts left to stew on 2 VAR penalty calls – 3 talking points

Arne Engels struck on first start and Luke McCowan also bagged his maiden goal as Celtic maintained their 100 per cent Premiership start.

The £11million signing rolled home a penalty kick six minutes into the second period to set them on their way against Hearts. Engels, who had earlier smacked a post, grasped the spot-kick moment after Jambos defender James Penrice was adjudged to have handled a Nicolas Kuhn cross in the box. It was no more than Celtic deserved due to their domination of the contest and the clincher was then struck in the final moments by McCowan, who had come on for the opening goalscorer.

The former Dundee star struck home from the edge of the box to secure the points and extend the unblemished Celtic start to the campaign. It was a sore one for Steven Naismith’s men. Hearts battled manfully and thought they had a penalty themselves in the opening period after referee Colin Steven pointed to the spot for a handball against home defender Liam Scales.

After VAR review, he overturned his decision, but consultation with the screen after the Penrice offence did bring an award. Despite home control, there was still just a goal in it until almost injury time when McCowan bagged, but it’s now seven straight defeats for the Tynecastle club.

Celtic had to be patient before completing the mission which sets them up perfectly for Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava. With the champions in hot form, Hearts had to try and stay in it for as long as possible and got to the interval intact, despite some big scares.

Engels flashed a first chance wide at the near-post from a trademark Alistair Johnston pullback. Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi both had chances soon afterwards with Reo Hatate