Tommy Wright wants St Johnstone to seal fourth spot in style
St Johnstone are aiming to seal fourth spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership by taking their first points of the season off Celtic.
But manager Tommy Wright believes their performances so far have merited a result against the champions, despite a 3-0 defeat on Celtic's previous trip to McDiarmid Park.
Wright said: "The scorelines have been comfortable but I don't think they have been comfortable games for them, particularly the home game here, we really could been at least 2-0 up before they scored.
"We did score at Celtic Park and had late chances to get back and (Craig) Gordon has made a couple of great saves against us.
"Overall the performances have been good enough against them but we have played worse and got points off them, but it hasn't quite happened this season."
Saints have taken points off every other team in the division, though, and could tie up fourth on Wednesday night even if they lose.
And Wright admitted he thought it would be difficult to repeat last season's finish.
"Teams have strengthened. With Hearts coming into the league, Aberdeen were strong again, Celtic are always going to be strong, I always thought it would be those three," he said.
"Nobody thought Dundee United would slip the way they did, they spent a lot of money in the summer. Ross County invested heavily and other teams strengthened in depth.
"The fact that with 43 points you still weren't in the top six, it has been tougher and that shows what a good achievement it is for the players."
Meanwhile, Wright is still waiting for answers for transfer targets Ryan Dow and Blair Alston.
"Players are hanging on, agents are hanging on, but we have no big panic because we have a good nucleus of a squad and already have two in in Keith Watson and Michael Coulson," he said.
"One or two will leave, which we will sort out later on in the week. Because we are not in Europe, there isn't the rush to be doing it but, in saying that, I like to get my business done as early as possible."
Leigh Griffiths is looking to reach the 40-goal mark when Celtic travel to St Johnstone.
The Hoops striker is in the form of his life with 39 goals in all competitions this season but has only 90 minutes to add to it as he will miss the last game of the season against Motherwell after going through the disciplinary points total.
Griffiths had several unsuccessful attempts on goal in Sunday's 3-2 win over Aberdeen which clinched the Parkhead club's fifth successive title and he is keen to end his domestic campaign, in which he has also picked up Celtic's and PFA Scotland's player of the year awards, on a further high.
"It has been a great season so far," said the 25-year-old Scotland international.
"I have only got one game left to hit that 40-goal mark and hopefully I do it on Wednesday night and then we can go for a nice weekend.
"The most important thing on Sunday was to get the job done and get the three points for the team.
"We managed to do that so the league is put to bed now, so hopefully I can grab that 40th on Wednesday.
"But I still want to help the team get three points. It is not just about me, the manager will stress that he wants six points from the last two games and if I can chip in with a goal or two I will be happy."
Griffiths is proud of his third title win at Celtic and is looking to add to it next season.
The former Dundee and Wolves player said: "It is big. We know that next season is going to be difficult but to get the five in a row goes down in the history books and hopefully we can make it six next year.
"The league table doesn't lie. We are 12 points ahead of Aberdeen and hopefully we can extend that.
"We want to finish the season on a high. We have two games left and we want six points.
"For the first 60 minutes on Sunday we were unplayable at times. The football we played was outstanding and Aberdeen couldn't cope with us in the end.
"Two lapses of concentration cost us two goals and at times we were on the back foot with Aberdeen pressing.
"But we still had chances to put the game to bed. We didn't do that but we got the three points in the end which is all that mattered."
Source: PAR
