“Once we knew we were in a cup final, we knew there would be another game jammed in there. We plan, but after that’s set out, it’s about dynamic and treating each day as it comes. Time on the turf is limited because recovery has to be key, but it doesn’t stop you from getting your point across.

“We want to make sure we continue the momentum we have built with our performances and look for positive results. From our perspective, it’s about continuing our positive form over the last 10 games or so in the league.”

Hearts travel to Celtic Park tomorrow (Thursday), having been in excellent form this season, and they currently sit third in the table, after winning promotion from the Championship last year.

The Hoops lost out to Robbie Neilson’s side on the opening game of the season but did atone for that with a 3-2 win at Celtic Park in the League Cup a couple of weeks later.

Celtic are without a loss in domestic competitions since September and Ange Postecoglou says his team has grown since those early meetings with Hearts.

He added: “We’ve definitely evolved from that first game. We literally had Kyogo come to lunch and then was in the squad, and Carl Starfelt was similar.

'We had a rough beginning, but we felt we had to be resilient and not make excuses and we’ve had steady improvements.'

“We’re not putting an endpoint on things, we just want to improve. There’s no chance we’re anywhere near (our maximum) yet, but it’s up to me to make sure the message is consistent that we can always improve should we seek it.

“They’re a good team, have been consistent and have an outstanding goalkeeper who’s been in great form this year.

“As the table shows, they’ve been one of the more consistent sides in the league and have their strengths like all other teams.

"For us, it’s about the football we play. We want to be the team that goes out there and dominates the game and creates opportunities, so the focus is well and truly on us.”

Ange Postecoglou: We want to keep momentum going against tough Hearts side