Celtic Vs Hearts [3–1] – Scottish Premiership 2025/2026: How Martin O'Neill Pragmatism Delivered Another Title – Tactical Analysis

Celtic and Hearts faced off in the biggest domestic game that Scotland has seen in years on Saturday.

Some could have predicted that it would come down to this one when the fixtures for this part of the campaign were decided a few weeks ago.

Few could have predicted that it would have been as dramatic as this.

Wednesday night had seen Heart of Midlothian win 3-0 at home to Falkirk.

Celtic were seconds away from drawing 2-2 away at Motherwell when a controversial handball was given.

If the result had stayed the same, Celtic would have needed a 4-0 win to clinch the league.

Kelechi Iheanacho slotted home the penalty, meaning any win would do for Martin O'Neill's side.

The atmosphere at Celtic Park was electric.

There were just under 800 fans for the Edinburgh side, but their voices were heard several times in this game.

The 60,000 Celtic fans made it an intense place to be, an atmosphere that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Boca Juniors-River Plate game.

Celtic ran out winners, claiming their fifth title in a row, ruining the party for Hearts (and many neutrals who wanted a non-Old Firm side to win the league).

Hearts took the lead just moments before half-time through Lawrence Shankland, but Celtic were able to equalise through Arne Engels' penalty moments later.

It then took until the 87th minute for Daizen Maeda to get the goal.

It needed a VAR check, but it was clear he was onside.

Hearts then pushed for the equaliser they needed, but young striker Callum Osmand was able to walk the ball into the net on 98 minutes.

This tactical analysis examines how Hearts managed the game perfectly in the first half and the key moments that won the Glasgow side another league title.

Celtic Vs Hearts Lineup & Formation

Celtic Lineup Vs Hearts

Martin O'Neill kept the same lineup that won away at Fir Park on Wednesday night, looking for continuity in search of victory.

Viljami Sinisalo started in goals, with a back four of Alistair Johnston, Auston Trusty, Liam Scales and Kieran Tierney ahead of him.

Arne Engels and Callum McGregor formed the double pivot in O'Neill's 4-2-3-1, with an attacking unit spearheaded by Daizen Maeda and backed up by Sebastian Tounetki, Yang Hyun-jun and Benjamin Nygren.

Celtic brought up Iheanacho for Tounetki at half-time, James Forrest for Yang on 62', Osmand and Marcelo Sarrachi for Tierney and Trusty (in search of a winning goal) on 73' and young central defender Dane Murray on 90' for Nygren to shore up their defensive ranks.

Hearts Lineup Vs Celtic

Derek McInnes made three changes from the side that had beat Falkirk, sticking with his trusted 4-4-2.

Alexander Schwolow started in goals, Stephen Kingsley at right-back, Michael Steinwender (replacing Frankie Kent) and Stuart Findlay at centre-back and Harry Milne at left-back.

Alexandros Kyziridis and Jordi Altena started either side of the midfield two of Cameron Devlin and Beni Baningime.

Pierre Landy Kaboré and captain Shankland started in a physical front two.

Frankie Kent came on shortly after half-time, replacing the injured Jordi Altena.

Blair Spittal arrived a few minutes later, again forced through an injury to Baningime.

Alan Forrest, Claudio Braga and Islam Chesnokov then came on in a triple change with twenty minutes to go.

Celtic Vs Hearts: A Nervous First Half

The first half of Saturday's game was an extremely nervous and cagey affair.

The atmosphere and game played out in the opening exchanges much like most expected it to.

Celtic looked to be extremely energetic, press high and get the crowd on top of Hearts.

Every time Hearts did have the ball, the whistles were so loud that they'd have been able to hear them all the way in Edinburgh.

Hearts Position Map Vs Celtic

Hearts' average position map (via SofaScore) before substitutions shows how compact they were in midfield and defence.

Kaboré (#11) pushed up high, as Hearts looked to exploit Trusty's physical limitations.

Celtic Position Map Vs Hearts

Celtic, on the other hand, looked to make the pitch as big as possible.

Yang and Tounetki (#13 and #23) held their width and looked to either make runs in behind their full-backs or face them up and run at them.

Tierney pushed up on the left-hand side whilst Johnston tucked in on the opposite side.

Hearts did well to nullify any threat for most of the first half.

It was no surprise that Trusty (90), Johnston (81) and Scales (78) had the most touches in the opening 45 minutes.

Celtic dominated the ball, having 68% of the possession.

Yet they only managed to have three shots in the game, one of which was the penalty that was the final act of the first half.

They created an open play expected goals of just 0.03.

Hearts, on the other hand, created six shots for themselves; they had twice the number of touches in the opposition box as their opponents (six to three) and had a non-penalty expected goals of 0.37.

Hearts played the first 45 minutes perfectly, and they got their reward through a corner two minutes before half-time.

For anyone who's not familiar, this is no surprise.

The Jam Tarts have been the Premiership's set-piece specialists this season, scoring 23 in total.