How Celtic swatted St Mirren aside in 4-0 Premiership win

Liel Abada opened the scoring after being denied a penalty early on before Kyogo Furuhashi bagged his 17th and 18th goals of the campaign. David Turnbull smashed in a screamer in the closing stages to round off the scoring at 4-0.

Ange Postecoglou made four changes to his starting XI for the match with the biggest surprise coming at centre-back as Cameron Carter-Vickers dropped out due to soreness. Yuki Kobayashi was handed his debut in his stead.

Elsewhere, Alistair Johnston was restored at right-back meaning Josip Juranovic moved across to the opposite flank in place of Alexandro Bernabei. Matt O'Riley returned in midfield at the expense of Aaron Mooy while Abada took Daizen Maeda's place in attack.

St Mirren saw a goal chalked off for offside before the Celtic opener while the final result means two home clean sheets in a row for the first time since September.

Here, The Celtic Way rounds up the best StatsBomb data from the game to give you a match report like no other...

xG/trendline

Celtic took the only shot in the opening 10 minutes but managed three more - including the opener - before the 15-minute mark.

A period of St Mirren creativity ensued after Abada's goal. The visitors managed to manufacture five chances without reply, albeit they were all of low quality.

The trendline reflects that from the 25th minute onwards Celtic simply pulled away in the creative stakes. They peppered Trevor Carson's goal with seven attempts before the half was out, bagging their second goal in the process courtesy of Kyogo.

After the break it was a slightly more sedate affair but the champions still created six chances, double that of their opponents, as well as adding two more goals to their tally.

Statistically, Jota's 37th-minute chance was the 'best' opportunity of the game at 0.41 xG. Kyogo's second goal was next on 0.40. The Buddies' best chance was their final one - Alex Gogic's 0.11-rated right-footed effort from a cross.

StatsBomb notes that the final cumulative xG totals stood at 1.81-0.42 in Celtic's favour, underlining the clinical nature of their performance in scoring four times, while Saints are given just a six per cent chance of victory based on the chances each team created.

Shots

The champions generated 17 shots in total, scoring four from the six they got on target. Six missed and five were blocked with Carson making two saves.

To their credit, Celtic managed to create double-digit chances in close, central areas including three of the four goals. Three chances were mid-to-high-quality xG.

Eight of their 17 attempts came from open play with one via an indirect free-kick. Notably, eight came from corners which is the highest in any Celtic game so far this season. They scored two via this method which ended a run stretching back to November 5.

St Mirren's shot map includes nine attempts but none of mid-to-high-quality xG. Three were generated in close, central areas. 

The Buddies got three shots on target, missed one and saw five blocked. Joe Hart made three saves.

Individually the most prolific shooter in the match was actually Saints midfielder Alex Gogic with four. Kyogo, Abada and centre-back Carl Starfelt all followed with three. The Japan international's attempts carried the highest accompanying xG total (0.54).

Passing, possession & positions

Celtic enjoyed 75 per cent possession and completed 709 of 793 pass attempts for an impressive 89 per cent success rate, all similar totals to their last league match against Kilmarnock.

The Buddies, meanwhile, mustered 159 completed passes from 265 attempts (60 per cent success rate).

The pass network below gives a sense of where the game was played and who was most involved. The warmer the colour the more influential the player, while the thicker the passing lines the more passes between the players.

StatsBomb measures pass contributions in on-ball value (often referred to as OBV, a term breakdown can be read here).

As is often the case, Hart and the two centre-backs are the only players to have spent the majority of the match in the Celtic half. 

Callum McGregor is as central to it all as a player can be while Hatate's floating out to the left and O'Riley's advanced positioning meant the Hoops generally resembled a 2-3-2-3 on the park with Kyogo as the focal point.

Jota, returned to the left wing after a stint on the right, was the standout player in terms of OBV. He returned an OBV rating more than the next two best Celts - Juranovic and Abada - combined. James Forrest was the only Hoops sub to return a positive OBV mark.

Kobayashi took the most touches (217) and topped the xGChain ahead of Jota. The Portuguese was, however, involved in two of the team's top three most 'dangerous' passing combinations with Hatate in three of the top four.

St Mirren's network reflects their attempt to play three/five at the back but more so their relative effectiveness down the right flank.

Centre-back Joe Shaughnessy, right wing-back Ryan Strain and striker Curtis Main all returned impressive OBV figures - trailing Jota but above all other Celts. Usually in games at Parkhead, the opposition goalkeeper is the standout for visiting teams in this regard.

In the last league match, 10 different Celtic players registered at least one key pass. On this occasion that number halved but Jota and O'Riley still stick out in particular.

The Portuguese played six - more than the entire St Mirren team combined - while O'Riley managed three. No other Celt managed more than one.

Jota's accompanying xG Assisted of 0.78 was higher than the sum total of every other player in the match combined.

Pressing and defending

Celtic made 100 pressures - nine more than their last league match but still well below St Mirren's 248. The visitors also made more pressure regains (27 vs 19). The most intense battlegrounds were on Celtic's left wing and inside right channel.

Gogic and Keanu Baccus were the game's joint-most persistent pressers with a massive 45 apiece. Three other Saints players made more than 20. 

Hatate was leading Celt with 14 while Kyogo was the only other home player to reach double figures. Kobayashi, from centre-back, was the team leader in total pressing duration.

Baccus led the charts in counter-pressing with nine while Hatate, Johnston and - to his credit given his cameo role - Turnbull were the top Celts with five each.

In traditional defensive metrics, Juranovic stood out from his uncustomary left-back slot. He registered three tackles, four interceptions, three clearances and an aerial win. No Celt made more tackles - although Hatate matched him - while only Starfelt (five) made more interceptions.

The Swede allied those with a match-high nine clearances and a 100 per cent five out of five aerial duel win rate.