Commons eager to wrap up title
Celtic midfielder Kris Commons wants the Scottish Premiership title wrapped up as soon as possible to start preparing for the Champions League next season.
The Hoops will win their fourth successive championship with three games remaining if they beat Dundee at Parkhead on Friday night and Aberdeen fail to beat Dundee United on Saturday.
Once again the champions of Scotland will begin their Champions League qualifiers in the middle of July, only a month after another round of 2016 Euro qualifiers in which several Celtic players, including Scotland captain Scott Brown and keeper Craig Gordon, are sure to be involved.
Commons, who gave up his Scotland career in May 2103 to concentrate on his family and club football, is hoping an early title win will allow manager Ronny Deila to give an extended rest to some of his senior players in lieu of a short close season.
"For us it is about getting it done and dusted, the sooner the better, and hopefully the manager might start making a few changes to give some senior players a bit of a rest," said the 31-year-old.
"Everyone knows our biggest games of the season come short and sharp around July time so it is important for them to get the feet up.
"It is very difficult for players. Everyone thinks in the off-season you get the feet up to go away with your family and recharge the batteries.
"For us, we get three weeks off and are back in the swing of things.
"The Champions League group stages is a requirement spoken about every pre-season.
"But it is not as if we have two or three games to get going, we have to be pretty much on the money from the word go.
"As far as the international players go, they will just keep themselves ticking over and realise if we do get through to the Champions League group stages they may be able to get a bit of a break during the season.
"When you play at a top level, and you are trying to compete at club and international level, it is very difficult to maintain high standards.
"Not just at Celtic but across the world you see top players taking dips in form.
"I don't know whether that is just because they are a little bit burnt out but it is very difficult to meet the demands of top level football twice, three times a week and you do need a rest.
"Our boys are very professional, they know the importance of Champions League qualifiers and should be coming back in good health.
"So it is about getting the job done on Friday and then we can look at other results.
"But if it means going up to Aberdeen the week later to try to put in a performance there, then that is what we will do."
Paul Hartley believes Dundee can take encouragement from previous displays against Celtic.
The Dark Blues drew with Deila's side at Dens Park in September and have since suffered successive 2-1 defeats against the champions.
Dundee have already exceeded their aims for the season by reaching the top six and now their manager believes they can go to Glasgow with genuine optimism for their game against the champions-elect.
Boss Hartley said: "I thought the earlier game down there was one of our better performances away from home. So I would like to think we can take some heart from that.
"It's never easy going to play against Celtic away from home but it's one we will approach positively. You look for any positive going into a game like this and we can look back on some decent performances."
One of Dundee's worst performances of the season came in last weekend's 2-0 home defeat to St Johnstone.
And Hartley wants to see a dramatic improvement as they attempt to stop Celtic from taking another significant step towards clinching the title.
He said: "We all know it wasn't good enough. It was unlike us to be fair but we have to take the criticism with the plaudits.
"This is a good game for which the lads can bounce back. We've trained well all week and they're a great bunch of lads.
"They will be raring to go come Friday night. There's still plenty to play for between now and the end of the season. We want to get as many points as we can in our final few games and see where it takes us.
"You never know what can happen but first and foremost we'll focus on Celtic."
Source: PAR
