Celtic v Hearts LIVE: Scottish Premiership prediction, team news and line-ups with title on the line

Celtic XI: Sinisalo; Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney; McGregor, Engels, Nygren, Yang, Tounekti, Maeda

Hearts XI: Schwolow; Kingsley, Steinwender, Findlay, Milne; Baningime, Devlin, Altena; Kyziridis, Shankland, Kabore

Line-ups will be confirmed in the next few minutes, here’s a reminder of the early team news:

Martin O’Neill appears to have settled on a favoured formula, with the choice between Sebastian Tounekti and Luke McCowan on the wing the only change the Celtic boss has made between the recent wins over Rangers and Motherwell. Daizen Maeda continued his scoring run at Motherwell while Kelechi Iheanacho produced another big moment from the bench, Celtic able to call upon the impact sub if required.

Derek McInnes is without Craig Halkett and Marc Leonard after both suffered Achilles injuries against Motherwell. Harry Milne and Cammy Devlin returned in the win over Falkirk but both were withdrawn before full-time as McInnes attempted to manage their minutes after injury lay-offs of their own. The leaders do not appear to have picked up any fresh fitness issues in the win over Falkirk.

Celtic have won their last six league games to cut Hearts’ lead to one point ahead of the final day. If Celtic beat Hearts to win the title, it would be their longest winning streak to end the season since 2010, but Rangers won the title that season.

This has been billed as winner-takes-all, with the caveat of a draw favouring Hearts, which may bring its own challenges. “

It’s difficult, players are tuned to win, managers are tuned to win,” Derek McInnes said. “You don’t go for 90-odd minutes and just play for a draw.”

There is a feeling that Celtic will throw everything into getting an early goal and Hearts may need to ride out the initial storm.

“The only thing I can think about is when you go away from home in Europe sometimes and you make sure you’re nice and solid,” McInnes said. “You don’t need to go and win a game early on, but you can be nice and compact.”

Martin O’Neill could seal his fourth league title in Scotland, 22 years after his last with Celtic.

The 74-year-old has twice taken over a club on the brink of mutiny this season, first when Brendan Rodgers resigned and then again when Wilfried Nancy was sacked after a disastrous eight-game spell.

This is not a vintage Celtic team and during an extraordinary campaign that has teetered on the brink of collapse it has felt as if the only thing keeping them together is O’Neill and the memories of the trophies won between 2000 and 2005.

He could sign off with two more, a Premiership and Scottish Cup double.

Hearts have already beaten Celtic twice this season, as well as Rangers three times, and could become the first side in Scottish football history to win six games against the Old Firm clubs in a single league season.

Hearts are also bidding to become the first club outside of the Old Firm since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen to win the title. The Jambos could become champions of Scotland for a fifth time, and first time 1960.

Celtic were five points behind Hearts following the 2-0 defeat at Dundee United in March.

Martin O’Neill insisted his side were not out of the title race and they have won six in a row since, Hearts’ lead down to one point.

“Celtic deserve a lot of credit, I think Martin deserves a lot of credit,” Derek McInnes said. “Obviously we’ve been top of the league for a long time.

“But like any true champion there’s a pride there and you can see that. I think what Martin’s done is he has made Celtic more of a team than individuals.”

Hearts boss Derek McInnes: “We’re going into a stadium of 60,000, the place will be rocking. We’ll look forward to it once it comes along. I think for us to have that type of game, that type of stage, we deserve that and we look forward to it. We’re not gonna shy away from it, we’ve got a good record against Celtic.

“Martin’s done a brilliant job in getting Celtic where they are. It’s not winner take all because we can get a point, but it’s difficult. Players are tuned to win, managers are tuned to win. So you don’t go for 90-odd minutes and just play for a draw.

“It’s going to feel like going into the lion’s den. Even though we’ve been top of the league since September or so, we’re still going to be the underdog.

“For us to be competing with Celtic, with the money they’ve got and everything they’ve got at their disposal, it’s a huge effort for our team and we look forward to it.”

Celtic can win their 14th league title in 15 seasons, with their 56th overall in Scotland. That would see Celtic overtake Rangers for the most of any side. It would also continue a streak of 41 successive titles won by either Celtic or Rangers.