Following on from a fantastic week, the Celtic manager is looking for his side to continue building on those impressive results, which included league wins over Glasgow City and Hearts.

“We have great momentum,” he said. “We are in good shape. Training was fantastic and it was very intense which, for me, is very important because players are really competing for positions.

“Obviously all the fixtures coming up are fantastic games, and nobody wants to miss. So they need to earn that spot in training.

'The three games last week were incredible. All three of them were very difficult games – all away from home too. To get three wins, it was the perfect week.'

“It was the most important week of the season, until now. In terms of Hibs, they are a very unpredictable team. They have played three different formations this year, and even against us they have changed shape.

“At times they have sat deep, gone with a medium block or pressed us, all in the same game. It’s very difficult to predict.”

In the two previous meetings between the teams this season, Celtic have come out on top in both, picking up six points.

The first of the two matches ended in an emphatic 9-0 win for the Hoops on the opening day of the campaign, which was followed with a more closely-contested 2-0 victory in the capital.

Alonso is expecting this weekend’s game to be another close fixture, with the Hibs team now much more settled. The Celtic manager also relayed the importance of his squad focusing on their own game, rather than the opposition.

He said: “At the beginning of the season, we played against a team who had just assembled. They had only been together for a week or two.

“The players weren’t gelled and you could see that some of them didn’t know each other very well. We had obviously worked together for a few weeks.

'That day we were fantastic, and it was probably one of our best performances this season. I wouldn’t say the best, but certainly one of them.'

“But they are a much better team than that now. They are much better organised. I would be happy with the three points, and if we can keep a clean sheet that’s even better.

“We know it’s not going to be a similar score-line this time around. Last time it was 2-0 and they had a few chances. For parts of the game, they were on top, not for long spells, but they were on top. So we know that we have to be at our best.

“It’s very important that we work hard, and we keep focused from the first minute because they are a good team.”

Fran Alonso: Training has been fantastic ahead of league return