Callum McGregor believes confidence has played a key role in Celtic’s recent performances, following four wins from four in the Scottish Premiership. Now, the Hoops’ vice-captain wants to extend the form which saw them overcome St Johnstone 2-1 on Sunday into this week's encounter with Aberdeen.

Celtic host Derek McIness’ side at Paradise tomorrow evening (Wednesday, 6pm kick-off), and McGregor is confident he and his team-mates can transfer the hard work and preparation that starts at Lennoxtown onto the pitch on matchday.

“It’s been good,” said McGregor. “Results have been good, large bits of the performances have been good as well. We’re starting to look more like our old selves. We need to keep working hard and keep trying to win the next game and the one after that.

“In football, things can change very quickly. You get a result, you score a few goals, and then the confidence and the freedom in your play comes back.

“We seem to be scoring loads of goals and defending well as well at the moment. Things move quickly in football and we can see that in the performances, they seem to be a lot slicker.”

McGregor hailed the unity of the squad – from the management team through to the players – and said consistency is at the forefront of Celtic’s game plan between now and the end of the season.

'We always expect a very tough game against Aberdeen and we have to play our very best to get the result.'

He added: “Winning can only help the confidence in the building and among the staff and the players. You can see that in the performances, we just need to try and continue that, keep working hard and keep our heads down.

"It’s been a difficult season, but we just need to learn from it. When you win games that automatically gives you a lift. It’s always doom and gloom when you don’t win games, and I think this is a very honest group. You can see the drain on people, they take it into their personal lives, but hopefully we’re coming out the back of it now and it’s important that we stay on it.

“There aren’t too many games to go, but if we win tomorrow night, we just have to look after ourselves. We have to win as many games between now and the end of the season and see where it takes us.

“We always expect a very tough game against Aberdeen and we have to play our very best to get the result. They might have a point to prove, they’ve been on a poor run themselves. We prepare today and hopefully look forward to a victory tomorrow.”

Callum McGregor: Confidence has helped our recent performances