Celtic close gap on Hearts after Old Firm win as title race tightens

Celtic left the Scottish Premiership race balanced on a knife-edge and, for the first time in weeks, they may also have left Hearts feeling the strain. Daizen Maeda scored twice, including an overhead kick, as Celtic beat Rangers 3-1 at Celtic Park on Sunday to trim the gap to a single point, with Hearts on 77 and Celtic on 76 from 36 matches.

The arithmetic is simple. Hearts still lead, but Rangers are now out of the title race and guaranteed third place, leaving a two-club fight for a championship that Hearts have led since October. The next four days will decide whether that advantage holds. Hearts host Falkirk on Wednesday, Celtic travel to Motherwell that same night, and the season finishes with Hearts visiting Celtic Park on Saturday in a match that could amount to a title decider.

That schedule is why Celtic can plausibly feel like the side with the momentum despite trailing. Brendan Rodgers has already framed the chase plainly, saying, "we are the team that is chasing." Celtic now have the cleaner psychological hand: they have closed the gap, they have the home fixture at the end, and they have just beaten Rangers in the highest-pressure domestic game on the calendar. Hearts, by contrast, must protect a lead they have carried for months while knowing one slip could hand the initiative away before they reach Glasgow.

Derek McInnes has guided Heart of Midlothian into position for a title that would break the long-standing Glasgow duopoly. Hearts are chasing a first Scottish top-flight crown for a club outside Celtic and Rangers since Aberdeen in 1985, and that ambition adds weight to every touch, tackle and decision between now and Saturday. The closer the race gets, the more the margin feels mental as much as mathematical.

What makes the final stretch so volatile is that both clubs still control their fate. If Hearts beat Falkirk and Celtic stumble at Motherwell, the Edinburgh side would arrive at Celtic Park with a cushion. If both win on Wednesday, Celtic Park on May 16 becomes the entire season in 90 minutes. Celtic’s derby surge has not made them champions, but it has changed the pressure point. Hearts remain in front; Celtic, for the moment, look like the side most likely to finish the job if the race comes down to nerve.