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Dundee United 0-2 Celtic: Visitors break down hosts' resistance to restore nine-point lead

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Jota heads Celtic's opening goal

Celtic restored their nine-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership as they ground down Dundee United’s stubborn resistance after the break.

The Glasgow side recorded the biggest away league win in the club’s history with a 9-0 thumping of United on their last visit to Tannadice in August.

A more resilient United held out until Jota headed home an Aaron Mooy cross.

Five minutes later, Mooy slotted home a penalty after Jota’s flick struck Kieran Freeman’s hand.

Celtic’s fifth game in a row without conceding means they have scored 18 times and lost just one goal in their last five visits to Tannadice.

It leaves United third bottom on goal difference, tied on points with Motherwell, Ross County and Kilmarnock, and without a win against Celtic in 19 games since a 2-1 win at Tannadice in December 2014.

Both managers agreed pre-match that United are a different beast since that August humiliation.

Not surprisingly, though, Mark Birighitti was the busier goalkeeper, the Australian being fortunate not to see a clearance charged down by Kyogo Furuhashi nestling behind him before blocking at the Japan striker’s feet after also saving low from a Jota drive.

Craig Sibbald blocked from midfield counterpart Mooy in front of the United goal before Birighitti bravely punched clear off the head of Kyogo only to see referee Don Robertson point to the penalty spot after the striker was also caught by the goalkeeper as he came for the ball.

Robertson was instructed to have a check on the screen and reversed his decision.

However, there was no reprieve shortly after half time when Birighitti appeared to lose his bearings as Mooy launched a deep cross and Jota headed in precisely from a difficult angle.

Celtic ensured the victory soon after as Freeman stuck out a hand and Mooy was given the opportunity from the penalty spot to slot his third goal in two games as the visitors could comfortably afford a close-range miss from Daizen Maeda in the dying seconds.

Player of the match – Jota (Celtic)

Celtic's Aaron Mooy and Jota celebrate

Numbers add up in Celtic’s favour – analysis

There was no record scoreline this time, but it was still a game of big numbers at Tannadice.

Celtic have gone 19 domestic games unbeaten since their one defeat of the season away to St Mirren in September, with a draw away to second-top Rangers being the only time they haven’t won.

It was a 50th win in 61 Premiership games under Ange Postecoglou, reaching that landmark in the same number of games as Brendan Rodgers – only Martin O’Neill has done it quicker, by two games.

Captain Callum McGregor was faultless in midfield on his 400th Celtic appearance and there was a debut off the bench for Oh Hyeon-gyu, the South Korea striker signed in midweek from Suwon Samsung Bluewings and the latest addition to a squad that is already looking incredibly strong domestically.

United captain Ryan Edwards suffered defeat as he returned to the starting line-up to make his 100th club appearance, but his side look to have continued the improvement suggested by their November visit to Celtic Park, where they only lost courtesy of two stoppage-time goals.

They could not match their own two goals this time and rarely troubled visiting goalkeeper Joe Hart, but they have still only lost three times in nine outings and their gritty performance will give manager Liam Fox grounds to believe they can move clear of relegation trouble.

What they said

Dundee United head coach Liam Fox: “I can’t take positives right now, I’m sore and disappointed. We’ve got a huge game on Wednesday so we have no time to feel sorry for ourselves.

“I was pleased to get in at 0-0 at half-time – I thought in the last parts we were just surviving. We had to be braver on the ball, better in possession, because we didn’t threaten enough for my liking. We conceded two quick goals and the rest of the afternoon becomes very difficult.”

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou: “I thought we handled it well, difficult conditions. They were really disciplined in their structure, particularly the first half. Having said that, we still got behind them on a number of occasions.

“We missed that final touch and quality, but we started the second half really well, scored a couple goals and could have scored a couple more. A really strong performance.”

What’s next?

United visit relegation rivals Kilmarnock as Celtic host in-form Livingston on Wednesday (both 19:45 GMT).

Player of the match

JotaJota

with an average of 7.76

Dundee United

  1. Squad number9Player nameFletcher

    Average rating

    6.05

  2. Squad number3Player nameMcMann

    Average rating

    5.87

  3. Squad number16Player nameBehich

    Average rating

    5.85

  4. Squad number19Player nameLevitt

    Average rating

    5.83

  5. Squad number14Player nameSibbald

    Average rating

    5.77

  6. Squad number23Player nameHarkes

    Average rating

    5.77

  7. Squad number22Player nameFreeman

    Average rating

    5.66

  8. Squad number2Player nameSmith

    Average rating

    5.62

  9. Squad number12Player nameEdwards

    Average rating

    5.61

  10. Squad number15Player nameMiddleton

    Average rating

    5.39

  11. Squad number1Player nameBirighitti

    Average rating

    5.38

  12. Squad number18Player nameMcGrath

    Average rating

    4.76

  13. Squad number44Player nameMacleod

    Average rating

    4.72

  14. Squad number8Player namePawlett

    Average rating

    4.47

  15. Squad number10Player nameDjoum

    Average rating

    4.41

Celtic

  1. Squad number17Player nameJota

    Average rating

    7.76

  2. Squad number13Player nameMooy

    Average rating

    7.42

  3. Squad number19Player nameOh

    Average rating

    7.25

  4. Squad number42Player nameMcGregor

    Average rating

    7.24

  5. Squad number20Player nameCarter-Vickers

    Average rating

    7.10

  6. Squad number41Player nameHatate

    Average rating

    7.01

  7. Squad number38Player nameMaeda

    Average rating

    6.99

  8. Squad number8Player nameFuruhashi

    Average rating

    6.96

  9. Squad number2Player nameJohnston

    Average rating

    6.89

  10. Squad number11Player nameAbada

    Average rating

    6.89

  11. Squad number4Player nameStarfelt

    Average rating

    6.83

  12. Squad number3Player nameTaylor

    Average rating

    6.74

  13. Squad number14Player nameTurnbull

    Average rating

    6.70

  14. Squad number33Player nameO’Riley

    Average rating

    6.54

  15. Squad number9Player nameHaksabanovic

    Average rating

    6.52

  16. Squad number1Player nameHart

    Average rating

    6.49

Line-ups

Dundee Utd

Formation 5-3-2

1Birighitti

22Freeman2Smith12Edwards3McMann16Behich

23Harkes14Sibbald19Levitt

9Fletcher15Middleton

  • 1Birighitti
  • 22FreemanBooked at 51mins
  • 2Smith
  • 12Edwards
  • 3McMann
  • 16Behich
  • 23HarkesSubstituted forMcGrathat 60′minutesBooked at 84mins
  • 14Sibbald
  • 19LevittSubstituted forDjoumat 74′minutes
  • 9FletcherSubstituted forMacleodat 74′minutes
  • 15MiddletonSubstituted forPawlettat 74′minutes

Substitutes

  • 4Mulgrew
  • 6Graham
  • 7Niskanen
  • 8Pawlett
  • 10Djoum
  • 18McGrath
  • 28Anim Cudjoe
  • 31Newman
  • 44Macleod

Celtic

Formation 4-3-3

1Hart

2Johnston20Carter-Vickers4Starfelt3Taylor

13Mooy42McGregor41Hatate

11Abada8Furuhashi17Neves Filipe

  • 1Hart
  • 2Johnston
  • 20Carter-Vickers
  • 4Starfelt
  • 3Taylor
  • 13MooySubstituted forTurnbullat 67′minutes
  • 42McGregor
  • 41HatateSubstituted forO’Rileyat 67′minutes
  • 11AbadaSubstituted forHaksabanovicat 82′minutes
  • 8FuruhashiSubstituted forOhat 82′minutes
  • 17Neves FilipeSubstituted forMaedaat 67′minutes

Substitutes

  • 9Haksabanovic
  • 14Turnbull
  • 18Kobayashi
  • 19Oh
  • 24Iwata
  • 29Bain
  • 33O’Riley
  • 38Maeda
  • 49Forrest
Referee:
Don Robertson

Attendance:
12,448

Match Stats

Live Text

Post update

Match ends, Dundee United 0, Celtic 2.

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