Has this Celtic side lost its path to the title?

Celtic beat Aberdeen on 4 March and for me it was not a brilliant performance in terms of football, but the Hoops got the three points. Even more importantly, they climbed into second place and pushed Sevco down to third.

As I said, sometimes it is not about dazzling performances. Sometimes it is simply about taking the three points and moving closer to winning the league. But the real question now is simple. Can the Celtic Lions still win the race and claim the Premiership crown?

I have to admit that this season is starting to feel like one of those strange football stories you simply cannot predict. Celtic sitting second in the Premiership table does not exactly scream “champions”. Our form has been patchy all season long. Yet when you look deeper at the momentum, the pressure building around the league and the crucial matches still ahead, the story begins to feel a little different from the narrative in the press.

Sometimes the road to a title is not straight at all.

Sometimes it twists and even looks uncertain. Often, the team chasing from second place ends up standing on top when everything finally settles. As of 6 March, Celtic find themselves in a classic sporting paradox.

The Hoops are second in the table behind Hearts, yet in many ways they remain masters of their own fate. Despite the five-point gap, and the obvious fact that Celtic’s path to the title requires outside help, so many points have been dropped around us that we’re still in a very strong position and no-one doubts if we won our last nine games that we’d be champions.

Celtic are guaranteed one more head-to-head match with Hearts and it’s at home. If the Hoops win every remaining match prior to that I have no doubt we’d go top that day, if we weren’t already top when they arrived at our home.

Following the gritty 2–2 Glasgow derby draw, the squad showed the kind of Champions of Scotland mentality required for a late-season surge.

Players such as Kieran Tierney have already spoken about the club’s experience in high-pressure run-ins. That experience could become Celtic’s secret weapon against a Hearts side navigating unfamiliar territory at the top of the league.

This raises another interesting question.

Should Celtic prioritise goal difference in matches like the upcoming clash with Motherwell, or is securing three points the only thing that truly matters right now? Will it really come down to a handful of goals as we get closer to the split?

Football often produces stories that sound almost unbelievable when you first hear them. Stories that make you look at the league table again and ask yourself how on earth things ended up this way. It has been a long time since Celtic looked at the goal difference column and wondered how we’d make up a gap … we’re very often miles in front. What a strange road Celtic find themselves walking this season.

Sometimes the narrative of a season flips suddenly. A team that has been chasing for months suddenly finds rhythm. Confidence returns. Pressure moves to the side that has been leading. That is when a title race becomes unpredictable.

This is where Celtic’s strange road to the title could truly begin.

If the Hoops go out and hammer Motherwell with a real statement victory, the kind that sends shockwaves through the league, the story of the season could change in a single afternoon. Suddenly the pressure moves elsewhere.

Difficult? Sure. Of course it is. Motherwell are having an outstanding campaign and they concede very few goals, and we’re not exactly slamming them in. But in front of a home crowd with everything on the line, I know we have it in us.

Then the team that has been comfortable at the top begins to feel footsteps behind them. Doubt begins to creep in. The gap that once felt safe starts to look fragile. It’s happened already this season. Hearts once seemed as if they could pull away and be out of sight. The truth is, as Willie Miller said the other day, had Celtic not hired Nancy then the league table would probably look very different, with us out in front.

Football is played on the pitch, but titles are often decided in the mind long before the final whistle of the season. When Celtic play with confidence, especially at home, something special happens. The tempo rises. The pressing becomes relentless. The passes move faster. The crowd begins feeding the team with energy.

Celtic Park becomes a storm of green and white belief. When that energy starts flowing, Celtic can find that rhythm once again.

I have seen it many times before. When Celtic sense weakness they do not move forward gently. They charge. The players run harder. The tackles come stronger. Suddenly the opposition realise they are not facing just another team. They are facing a machine driven by belief. Hearts might be only one game, but they will be watching our results week in and week out and they will be concerned if we start to produce dominant football.

That is why this scenario feels strange and yet very Celtic at the same time. This club can cause its supporters great frustration one moment and pure joy the next. Second place on the table, yet a team still has that aura of champions, that never quit belief that has taken us wins even on days when we’re not that great.

If Celtic get through to the next round of the cup, by winning at Ibrox, I think every team in this league will feel the enormity of that momentum shift. Follow that up by beating a very good Motherwell side and continue building momentum, and the table will no longer tell the whole story. The real battle becomes psychological.

It becomes a question of who can handle the tension of the final weeks. Who can carry the weight of expectation. Celtic know these moments well. When we reach that point of critical mass the league table will catch up with the reality of the moment.

This club has built its history on dramatic finishes and late surges. Seasons that once looked uncertain have turned into triumph before. Pressure that breaks other teams often seems to ignite something inside Celtic instead.

There is a stubborn resilience in the DNA of this club. A refusal to give up. A belief that the fight is never over until the final whistle of the campaign.

That belief matters now more than ever.

Because the title race is rarely decided in February or early March. It is decided in the brutal final weeks when legs grow tired, nerves tighten and every mistake feels catastrophic. That is when true champions reveal themselves.

So yes, the table might say second place right now. It might suggest Celtic are chasing rather than leading. But seasons are not remembered for temporary standings. They are remembered for who lifts the trophy when the campaign ends.

If Celtic find their rhythm at exactly the right moment, if they send a powerful message by beating the Ibrox club and then Motherwell, and if we keep pushing forward with hunger and intensity, then second place is only a launchpad to grab the top spot the first time we see a flicker of doubt or hesitancy in Hearts.

Because sometimes the champions are not the team that leads the race from the beginning. Sometimes the champions are the team that times their charge perfectly. If that moment is arriving now for the Celtic Lions, then this strange road may still lead exactly where every Celtic supporter hopes it will.

Right to the Scottish Premiership title.