O'Neill will be 'glued' to Hearts v Rangers

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill admits he will be "glued" to Hearts v Rangers on Monday night.

The Parkhead club are the first of the top three to play this weekend when they travel to Easter Road on Sunday where a win would move them joint on points with Hearts.

If Rangers then win in Gorgie, the trio of title challengers would only be separated by one point with three matches remaining.

And O'Neill, whose team still have to host Rangers and Hearts, will be keeping a close eye on proceedings at Tynecastle.

"I know that some managers say, oh well don't bother, they'll go for a walk or do something," he said.

"No, I'm glued to it. Don't you worry, I'll be there. If you're asking who I'm cheering on, I have no idea. Don't even ask, I have no idea.

"It depends on how we do, if we don't win the game [on Sunday] that becomes a different thought process, but at the end of it all of course I'll be watching because we have to play those teams."

O'Neill praised his side's response since the 2-0 defeat at Dundee United, which has been followed by three successive league victories and an extra-time win over St Mirren to set up a Scottish Cup final against Neil Lennon's Dunfermline.

Referring to the Tannadice defeat, he said: "I thought it was a big three points dropped. I didn't feel we were out of it at that stage. I just didn't because I thought there were twists and turns, as it's been proved.

"It put us under enormous pressure to come and win our games, which we've done since that.

"There's still a distance to go but we've fought back, we got the late goal, [Kelechi] Iheanacho at Dens Park, which was big, and we followed it up by beating St Mirren and Falkirk.

"So we're winning some matches. We've got a lot of work to do but we're still there fighting for the chance."