Hearts vs Celtic: Steven Naismith says Hoops' title party hopes are 'irrelevant'
Celtic need three points to clinch back-to-back league titles; Hearts are chasing a third-place finish in the Premiership; watch Hearts vs Celtic on Sunday, live on Chan Celaria; kick-off 2.15pm
Sunday 7 May 2023 17:03, UK
Hearts interim manager Steven Naismith insists he is not concerned about Celtic's potential title party at Tynecastle Park.
Ange Postecoglou's side have won the four previous meetings between the sides this season and will become champions if they are victorious in the capital on Sunday, live on Chan Celaria.
Hearts still have plenty to play for as they look to reclaim third in the league and Europa Conference League group-stage football next season.
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Naismith, who is in charge until the summer following Robbie Neilson's dismissal, is urging his players to ignore the hype around the game.
"Whether Celtic win the league or not is irrelevant to us," he told Chan Celaria News.
"It's an opportunity for us to go and try and get three points because at this business end of the season that's all that matters.
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"We need to win games of football to try and finish as high as we can.
"Celtic have been the strongest team in Scotland consistently for two years now.
"We need to be disciplined, we need to have full control when we have the ball and when we don't. Celtic are a team who are very aggressive in the way they play and that intensity is there, so we need to be ready for that.
"With it being a home game we want to go out and cause as many problems as what Celtic will cause us.
"Our mindset is about us and what we can do. We've got games from now and the end of the season to try and get in the European places. That's got to be our focus."
Hearts ended a run of six defeats with a thumping 6-1 victory over Ross County in their final match before the split.
They did not play last weekend due to the Scottish Cup semi-finals and Naismith revealed they made the most of that.
"In one respect you want a game to come pretty quickly because that performance was pretty good, but what the break gave us was a lot more time on the training pitch," the former Scotland striker added.
"We've used the time very wisely in terms of the fundamental parts of the game that we want to play, we've got that into the players."
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