Celtic's Dominance Under O'Neill: Durán and Nygren Shine
Celtic’s ruthless streak under Martin O’Neill shows no sign of easing, and two names sit right at the heart of it: Camilo Durán and Benjamin Nygren.
Durán has exploded into life in Glasgow. Six goals in seven appearances in all competitions, three of them in his last two Scottish Premiership outings. He is scoring at a rate of a goal every 97 minutes for Celtic – the kind of return that turns a good signing into a talisman. Give him a sight of goal and he punishes teams. Repeatedly.
On the flanks, Nygren is carving opponents open. Five goal involvements in Celtic’s four league games this season – three goals, two assists – underline how quickly he has become a central figure in O’Neill’s attack. His record in the Premiership is remarkable: he has scored or assisted against 10 of the 11 sides he has faced. The only team to keep him quiet? St. Mirren, across three matches. That statistic hangs over this fixture like a challenge.
O’Neill’s perfect record and a familiar victim
History offers St. Mirren little comfort. Under Martin O’Neill, Celtic have faced them seven times in all competitions. Seven wins. An aggregate score of 16-2. It has been one-way traffic.
That streak puts O’Neill in rare company in Celtic’s history. Only three managers have faced a specific opponent more often while winning every single meeting: Jock Stein, who went 11 from 11 against Raith Rovers; Brendan Rodgers, perfect in nine against Hamilton Academical; and Ange Postecoglou, eight from eight versus Ross County. O’Neill’s run against St. Mirren is edging towards that kind of territory.
The broader league picture is just as stark. Celtic have strung together 11 straight league victories, four of them to start this season. Since the beginning of last term, O’Neill’s side have taken 23 wins from 27 Premiership matches, dropping points only four times (two draws, two defeats). That works out at 2.63 points per game. Title-winning numbers. Dominant numbers.
St. Mirren’s quiet surge
Yet this is not the same St. Mirren side that Celtic have routinely brushed aside.
They arrive with form of their own: four wins and two draws in their last six league matches, a run that already eclipses the previous 20, when they managed just three victories (with four draws and 13 defeats). The shift is clear. Results are no longer a bonus; they are a habit.
The league table reflects that improvement. This is not top versus mid-table drift. It is first against a side with momentum, belief and a growing sense they belong in these conversations.
History, pressure and a twist in the title race?
There is another quirk leaning towards the hosts. When the team starting the day second in the Scottish Premiership has played at home to the side on top, the chasers have taken three wins from the last five such meetings, drawing one and losing only once. That recent pattern is stronger than the nine equivalent fixtures before it, when the second-placed side managed just two victories.
So the numbers pull in different directions. Celtic, relentless and efficient, driven by Durán’s cutting edge and Nygren’s creativity, backed by O’Neill’s spotless record against St. Mirren. St. Mirren, quietly transformed, harder to beat, buoyed by a trend that suggests the chasing pack can bloody the leaders’ nose on their own turf.
Nygren has never registered a goal or assist against St. Mirren. O’Neill has never dropped a point to them. St. Mirren have rarely been in better shape to change both of those facts.
Something has to give.
