Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers insists he doesn’t expect to go through the league season unbeaten

BRENDAN RODGERS last night insisted he DOESN’T expect Celtic to go through the domestic season unbeaten.

The Hoops boss spoke after watching his team extend their league winning streak to 21 games with victory over Hamilton Accies.

It put them within four of Martin O’Neill’s British record of 25, set in 2003-04, and was another step towards becoming Scotland’s Invincibles by finishing the campaign undefeated.

But as he looked ahead to Wednesday’s trip to Inverness – the only ground where his team have dropped points – Rodgers is cautious.

“Listen, like I said before, we will lose a game, for sure,” he said.

“What we have to do is just resist as much as we possibly can. Perform how we want to, and if we do that then we can’t do any more.

“I know it is boring and not what you want to hear but I tend to really look at the next game. It (the record) is a few games away and football is so difficult to forecast.

“Saying that to the players would absolutely be contradictory, it would add pressure.”

The 2-2 draw at the Caledonian Stadium in September, was a game which saw Celtic punished for failing to take their chances when Alex Fisher popped up with a late equaliser.

“We should have won the game that day. In the second half we played very well, their keeper was brilliant,” said Rodgers.

“So we will always look back at it as one we gave it away late on.

“But the response has been brilliant. We’ve got another chance to go up there this week and look to get another three points.

“At that time they were in a good moment and we were on the back of a 7-0 defeat.

“We played very badly in the first half. In the second half we were brilliant and how we didn’t win the game is beyond me.

“But we had an incredible reaction and now we’re in February having won 31 out of 32.

“You’ve got to say how the players have been over a number of months, to sit here with the record they’ve had.

“You’ve seen in the league how difficult it is to win games, no matter how well you’ve been playing because the next opponent is always a tough game.

“Even more so with the comfort we’ve had in points, that’s maybe the time you could slip up.

“But it’s never been the case, we’ve been very focused and we’re a very ambitious group to do well.

“It’s not just for this season, we’re preparing and developing something for a number of years. The focus has been great.”