CELTIC kick-off their defence of the Scottish Cup tomorrow (Saturday) with a trip to Partick Thistle in the tournament’s fourth round. Scott Brown said every game at the Scottish champions is must-win, and they’ll treat this weekend’s encounter with the same mindset.

The captain acknowledged the hard work he and his team-mates put in at the club’s training camp in Dubai last week, but said that is only relevant if they win on the matchday pitch.

“Dubai was great,” said Brown in this week’s Celtic View, “but now we focus on Partick Thistle, and we need to look forward to winning more trophies. We’ve got a huge part of the season coming up, there are nearly 20 games in the league left to go, and we need to try and make sure we win as many of those games as possible.

“Every game is a must-win for us, no matter the competition. The fans expect us to win every game, and we have the highest expectations of ourselves as players well. We need to make sure we’ve got the right attitude and that we turn up.”

Tomorrow’s match marks the start of Celtic’s fourth successive Scottish Cup defence, before Neil Lennon’s men return to league duties against Kilmarnock on Wednesday and Ross County on Saturday, January 25, after that.

Brown added: “We worked hard at the training camp last week, but now we need to make sure we can make that work count. The first chance we get to do that is against Thistle at Firhill on Saturday, and then we look to the next games in turn after that.”

For the full interview with Scott Brown, see this week's Celtic View, out now.

To download a digital version of the magazine, click on the banner below.

Brown: Every game is must-win and that starts with Scottish Cup