CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has already turned his attention to the league after the club secured their place in next month's Scottish Cup Final with a 5-0 win over St Johnstone.
The Hoops are chasing a third straight Scottish Cup success and will face Aberdeen at Hampden Park in the final on May 24 looking for a record 43rd win in the competition.
The Saints helped delay Celtic's bid for the title with a shock 1-0 victory over the champions two weeks ago but there was no repeat today.
Rodgers immediately turned his focus back to the Premiership following today's win, with the Hoops needing just one point from their remaining five league games to seal the title.
Callum McGregor celebrates his opener with Reo Hatate (Image: Craig Foy / SNS Group via Getty Images)"Today was about getting to the final, really making a performance that the supporters can be proud of and look forward to another day here at Hampden." He told Celtic TV.
"We're there now, which is great.
"Now, the challenge will be to recover a little bit from today and then finish the job, in terms of the league, next week.
"That aside, we've got five games that we want to be really good in and take the best form that we possibly can into next month."
Daizen Maeda celebrates his second goal to make it 4-0 (Image: Craig Williamson / SNS Group via Getty Images)Celtic dominated from the off at Hampden but couldn't find a way through the St Johnstone defence.
Rodgers had questioned his side's mentality after that recent 1-0 defeat but despite failing to make their early dominance count here, it wasn't through a lack of effort and it felt as though it was a case of when and not if they would score.
Captain Callum McGregor finally broke St Johnstone's resistance after 34 minutes, drilling home from the edge of the box following Reo Hatate's clever back heel.
That opened the floodgates and by the break the Saints found themselves 4-0 down.
Daizen Maeda doubled the advantage three minutes after the opener, slotting home past Andy Fisher after good work from McGregor.
Hatate was the provider once again as he crossed for Irish striker Adam Idah to slot home from close range to make it 3-0.
The Japanese midfielder then made it a hat-trick of assists as he laid the ball off for countryman Maeda to fire through the legs of defender Daniels Balodis to make it 4-0.
St Johnstone looked to have pulled one back inside 10 minutes of the second half but Makenzie Kirk's stunning long-range effort was ruled out for a foul on Idah in the build-up.
Celtic were awarded a penalty shortly after only to see it overturned following a VAR check, however, substitute Jota added the fifth midway through the second half, racing in at the back post to divert Alistair Johnston's cross into the net.
Jota completed the rout in the second half with Celtic’s fifth goal (Image: Craig Foy / SNS Group via Getty Images)"I'm so pleased for the players," Rodgers said after the game.
"Obviously, a few weeks ago we took a wee bit of stick for losing against St Johnstone and rightly so,
"The criticism was valid but you seen in the last two performances, taking the start into the game that we wanted and it followed on from last week into this week.
"The mentality was really good, we were very humble in our work and we showed the quality and ambition in the game to keep looking for more goals."
Celtic celebrate after securing their place in next month's final against Aberdeen (Image: Craig Williamson / SNS Group via Getty Images)Celtic need only a point from their remaining five games to win a fourth consecutive title and next face Dundee United at Tannadice next Saturday.
However, Rodgers clearly doesn't expect his players to take their foot off pedal and whatever the outcome against the Terrors, he will be expecting his players to maintain their form in subsequent games against Rangers, Hibs, Aberdeen and St Mirren.
Success in the league will leave Rodgers and Celtic on course for a domestic treble, with Aberdeen waiting in the Scottish Cup Final after overcoming Hearts 2-1 at Hampden on Saturday.
