Ange Postecoglou has vowed his all out Celtic will go for the title jugular against Rangers.
And he has backed “special” Kyogo Furuhashi to be among those Parkhead players ready to decide a key moment and move the team towards something special.
Postecoglou and his pumped-up side are on the brink of glory with a six-point lead over their Ibrox rivals with just four games to go.
Success over Giovanni van Bronckhorst ’s team will just about seal the trophy due to their superior goal difference.
Celtic also have the advantage of knowing a point would keep them firmly in control of the title race. But Postecoglou has urged his men to seize their chance to win and move towards the final step.
He said: “Another club might take a different approach and I’d understand that because a draw would be a positive result with only three games to go. But we wouldn’t because that just hasn’t been our approach all year.
“It just hasn’t been the way we’ve gone about it. It’s just not our nature or the kind of team we want to be.
“Particularly at home, against any opposition, I can’t imagine there would ever be a scenario where we’d ever not go for three points. That’s what our supporters would expect and it’s our expectation.
“The reason we’re sitting in the position we are now is because home and away we go into every game trying to be the team trying to get three points.
“I don’t know if it’s just getting over the line. What you want to do is run through the line as hard as possible.
“We’ve worked hard to get to this spot where we know a strong performance and a win gets us really close to it. It’s exciting and we’re looking forward to it.
“The worst thing for any manager at this time of the year is if you aren’t playing for anything and are counting down the weeks until the end.
“But we have so much to play for and such a big prize, I’m super delighted we’re in the position where we can take that final step. I love that we have that challenge ahead of us.
“After Sunday if we are successful it takes us a step closer and you kind of know we would then be in a position to create something special.”
Postecoglou is without Josip Juranovic but Nir Bitton could return from injury and the manager has big calls to make.
Kyogo and Giorgos Giakoumakis look to be jostling for a starting slot in attack and Postecoglou insists both could have key roles. But the Hoops boss has singled out the outstanding talents of the Japanese star.
He said: “He’s a special player. He has those unique qualities that only certain kinds of players have in moments in games. Particularly in big games he wants to be the man in that position and more often than not he takes it.
“His movement is unbelievable and he has a really strong mentality in himself that when the big moments arrive he wants to be the man there.
“We’re going to need that on Sunday because we know it’s going to be another tight contest.
“It could come down to different moments when you need players to stand up and he’s certainly one that if it does come to him he won’t shy away from it.
“We can play them both and it’s not always about the guys who start either.
“Since January we’ve had contributions from a whole host of players, as opposed to earlier in the season when we didn’t have Giakoumakis or Kyogo. That was a tough time.
“Yes, both of them could start but if one or the other starts the other can come on and make an impact and that’s going to be important.”
