JAMES Forrest reckons the last couple of years have left Celtic fully aware of the challenge they face in trying to overcome Hibernian in the League Cup semi-final this weekend.

Celtic will continue the defence of the League Cup this Saturday at Hampden against a Hibernian side whose only win in their last 10 games was a penalty shoot-out with Kilmarnock in the quarter-final stage of the competition.

Hibs' current form is sharply contrasted by an on-form Celtic side who have won their last four games while scoring 14 goals and conceding just one in the process.

Forrest scored his 10th goal of the season on Wednesday night in Celtic’s 2-0 win over St Mirren just hours after signing a new contract with the club.

Despite the current run of impressive performances, Forrest insisted Celtic would not be lured into expecting anything other than a difficult game against an opposition who held them to a 1-1 draw in their last meeting.

“We have another big game on Saturday so we’re looking forward to that and hopefully we can get a good performance,” said Forrest. “We won’t be writing off Hibs, because over the last couple of years we’ve had tough games against them and they’ve shown a lot against us. We know it’s going to be a difficult game against them and we’ll need to be at our best.

“We’ve had a lot of good performances and good results recently, but it’s always about the next game. If we won the three games last week with good performances and failed to get the three-points against St Mirren then it wouldn't have meant as much. It’s important to follow up a good result with another one.”

Amongst Celtic’s recent results is the 2-1 win against Lazio in the Europa League and the Hoops will face the Seria A side in Rome next week (November 7).

Forrest insists Celtic can't afford to think about their upcoming European game and would instead be focused on maintaining their recent form at Hampden on Saturday.

“With Celtic there are so many big games,” said the 28-year-old. “We have the semi-final on Saturday, a Europa League game next week and we can’t afford to slip up in the league either, so that’s good and we want to be involved in the big games and contribute to the team. Hopefully I can do that on Saturday and we can get a positive result.

“I don’t think any of us will be thinking about Lazio. The main one is Saturday now and making sure we get into the final.

“We’ve had some good performances at Hampden over the last couple of years, so the boys will go in with a lot of confidence. Hopefully I can add to that and get the team into the final.”

Forrest: We'll have to be at our best to overcome Hibs challenge