Skipper Scott Brown admits he has mixed feelings about the pressure Aberdeen are putting on Celtic's Scottish Premiership title.

 

The Hoops have cruised to their last two championship wins in the absence of traditional rivals Rangers.

And even in season 2011/12, the Ibrox club's challenge collapsed as off-field problems led to them re-emerging in the bottom tier following their descent into administration then liquidation.

Ronny Deila's side, however, are currently battling with the Dons at the top of the table.

After impressive wins over Kilmarnock and Hamilton in their last two outings, following the loss of five points against Dundee United and Ross County, Celtic have two games in hand over Derek McInnes' side, whose 3-3 home draw against Dundee at the weekend ended their eight-game league winning run.

Consequently, the champions will leapfrog Aberdeen into top place with a win over Motherwell at Parkhead on Wednesday night, a prospect with which Brown feels more at ease.

Asked about the first semblance of a challenge to their title in several years, the Scotland captain said: "It is always good, especially when Rangers were in the league, looking over your shoulder and looking at their result.

"But it has also been great winning the league by 15 or 20 points as well. So it's catch-22.

"When we were top of the league (this season) we thought we would keep going and going and that would be us to the end of the season but we had a slight slip-up against Dundee United

"The last couple of games we have showed how good we are, creating chances and scoring goals.

"It's been a great contest (with Aberdeen) but we have a couple of games in hand to catch back up and go top of the league - where we should be.

"If we can win the two games in hand we would go four points clear - it would be good for us."

Motherwell's struggle this season, in contrast to previous campaigns, led to the departure of Stuart McCall in November with Ian Baraclough taking over the following month.

The Steelmen fought out a 1-1 draw at Parkhead in September with Celtic winning 1-0 at Fir Park in December, although the scoreline did not reflect the visitors' superiority.

"That was probably one of the best games we've played this season with the football we played and the chances we created," said Brown.

"It could have been six or seven but we only got the one goal and at end of the day we got the three points, which is the most important thing.

"Stuart did a great job there for a couple of seasons and it's been hard for them, since he left they have had a couple of good and bad results.

"We struggled against them at Celtic Park the start of the season so we will see what happens and hopefully we turn up with the right attitude.

"We just have to kick on now and show the rest of the teams in the league how good we are, and how well we can perform week in, week out."