Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for Tom Rogic and Ryan Christie after the Hoops thrashed Hearts 5-0 at Parkhead to narrow the gap to the Premiership leaders. Celtic, who boast five consecutive wins in the division, have a game in hand on Hearts and can go top of the table if they avoid defeat.

Rodgers was delighted with the overall performance from his side, calling Saturday’s result “excellent”, but he couldn’t help but wax lyrical about his two midfielders. In quotes reported by Celtic on Twitter, the Hoops boss said: “We never rely on one player. All the goals were very good. It’s a very collective effort.

“Tom Rogic and Ryan Christie, I thought were outstanding today, especially how they denied space for the opposition. Collectively, as a team, it was excellent”. Christie has been in a rich vein of form of late, scoring in his last two Premiership appearances and being given a full 90 minutes on both occasions, having previously been reduced to cameo appearances.

He was on the periphery at Parkhead at the start of the season, racking up just nine minutes of Premiership football in August and being handed substitute appearances on a weekly basis.  He’s now starting games and taking the opportunity to impress with both hands.

Christie is flourishing and teammate Rogic is too. The Australian international has made 18 appearances in all competitions, scoring and creating eight goals, and has contributed six goals in his last four Premiership games.

Stats from Transfermarkt.