Celtic bounced back from their disappointing defeat to their local rivals before the international break with a 3-0 win over Hearts at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.
The Hoops ran out comfortable winners, scoring all three of their goals in the first half, and it was a much-needed victory after they had two weeks to mull over their loss to Rangers in front of their home supporters last time out.
An 88th-minute winner from Hamza Igamane secured a 3-2 win for the Gers when they came across Glasgow to face Brendan Rodgers‘ side, who had brought it back to 2-2 from 2-0 down.
Celtic had to bounce back from that disappointing performance and result, and that is exactly what they did by claiming all three points against the Jam Tarts in emphatic fashion.
The Scottish giants, who were without first-choice goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, helped Viljami Sinisalo to keep his first clean sheet in the league, whilst the attacking players did their job at the other end.
Daizen Maeda added two more goals to his season tally, either side of a strike from Jota, as the Japan international put in yet another brilliant performance.
Daizen Maeda’s goalscoring form this season
The 27-year-old dynamo scored his 29th and 30th goals of the campaign in all competitions for Celtic to set the Hoops on their way to the win against Hearts, whilst he also scored one of the two goals in the 3-2 defeat to Rangers before the break.
Maeda has scored 30 goals and provided nine assists in 43 appearances for the Bhoys, including 15 goals in 28 outings in the Premiership so far.The Celtic number 38 scored two goals from three shots against Hearts, showcasing his clinical edge in front of goal, and he has been the most effective finisher in the squad this season at Premiership level.As you can see in the table above, he is the only player in the top five in the squad for xG to have outperformed his expected tally by more than one goal, with 15 strikes from 13.02 xG.
