“Our football has been good and consistent and we just need to keep continuing that.

“From experience, you would rather be in good form than not because it means you’ve built some sort of foundation going into a challenging game.

“What you do know is that there will be tension out there tonight and the pace will be quick and physical. We’ve had different types of challenges all along and we had another challenge against Dundee United.

'But the players find a way to get the job done and I think that’s only a positive for us because we know we can be better and can improve.'

“The players have shown great resilience and determination and irrespective of the challenge out there on game day they will find a way to overcome it.”

Tonight is the second Glasgow derby of the season, following the clash at Ibrox back in August last year.

However, the Celtic manager believes his team are further along in their progression since that game, but is well aware of the threats the visitors will pose under new manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

He added: “It was still a pretty tight game when we played them and it was early in the piece.

“We were still very unsettled in terms of a few players signed after that game and two of the starting line-up left after that.

'It was a different period for us, but we’ve been pretty settled over the last two to three months in terms of our form, performances and results, so from our perspective that’s what we want to continue.'

“In terms of personnel they haven’t changed too much but they’ve become more solid defensively since Giovanni has taken over.

“I guess for him, when you come in mid-season it’s hard to make major changes. I think they were already in decent form so you wouldn’t expect anything too drastic in the way they go about things.”

Ange Postecoglou: Tonight will be quick and physical but players will be ready