CELTIC................... .....3(Griffiths 17, Durnan og 44, McGregor 74))

DUNDEE UNITED.......1.(Erskine pen, 45)

All eyes to Malmo and the Swedbank Stadion.

In fairness, such were the wholesale changes that Ronny Deila made to his side that Celtic’s thoughts were on their play-off meeting with Malmo long before this game at Tannadice had reached its conclusion.

It was essentially a second string Celtic who comfortably swatted away Dundee United to complete their domestic duties before turning their attention to Tuesday’s critical meeting. On this evidence both sides of Celtic were on display which will give their manager food for thought as they head to Sweden.

The flamboyant, attacking edge of his team that ran amock against Malmo in the opening 20 minutes of Wednesday night’s game was on view in the early stages against United - the Tannadice side ought to have been dead and buried long before this game had reached the halfway stage - but equally, there were frustrating moments of profligacy coupled with defensive lapses that will cause Deila private moments of frustration.

Leigh Griffiths will feel confident of retaining his place after adding another to his burgeoning tally in what was a solid outing. The striker had a heavy hand in Celtic's second before being replaced by debutant Scott Allan while youngster Callum McGregor claimed a third to make Chris Erskine's penalty little more than a statistical note.

Kris Commons and Charlie Mulgrew were back in for Celtic after their recent injury issues, while Saidy Janko was drafted in at right-back to take over from the injured Mikael Lustig. There was also a start for forgotten man Anthony Stokes. All in all, Deila made a nine changes to the Celtic side that beat Malmo 3-2 midweek, but despite the surgery to the team ahead of Tuesday’s meeting against the Swedes in the second leg of the Champions League play-off, there was no disruption to the fluency within the Parkhead side.

Within the opening minutes Mark Durnan had broken a sweat hooking a Commons shot off his line and onto the crossbar as Celtic immediately went on the hunt for goals. It proved to be little more than a stay of execution for United before their visitors, inevitably, opened the scoring.

Emilion Izaguirre’s through ball caught out Durnan who attempted to play for off-side. Griffiths sprung the trap, crisply rounded the advancing Luis Zwick and rolled the ball into the net before wheeling off to celebrate his seventh goal of the season. Commons could have made it two just minutes later but his effort was beaten away by Zwick.

It was not all one way, however. Logan Bailly, deputising for Craig Gordon, was rushed into a challenge on Robbie Muirhead that head Jackie McNamara screaming for a penalty. Television replays showed that while the Hoops keeper didn’t make contact with Muirhead, there were a couple of slight tugs to the United player’s shirt.

For the most part, though, it was Celtic who dominated. Commons ought to have had his name on the scoreheet given the plethora of chances he had but to be fair to Zwick he produced a few decent interventions.

Still, the only surprise when Celtic doubled their lead was how long it took them. Griffiths cleared from deep inside his own half following a United corner, chesting the ball before looping it forward for Commons to collect. The playmaker rushed forward with Griffiths in support and as he attempted to square the ball to the striker, Durnan intervened but succeeded only in sending the ball into his own net.

Yet, for all that Celtic were dominant, the sloppiness that has marred the early days of the season did not take long to raise his head again when Efe Ambrose’s rash challenge on Scott Fraser resulted in Erskine finding the net with a well executed spot-kick. The United player sent Bailly the wrong way with low drive into the bottom right-hand corner.

While Deila has been upbeat about Celtic’s creative play and the manner in which they have controlled games, privately he must have concerns about his side’s inability to finish a team off when they have them on the back foot for so long.

As the half-time whistle shrilled, Celtic headed into the break with a slight advantage in a game in which they ought to have buried United out of sight and they could have paid a higher price for their profligacy had Paul Dixon’s effort not come off the side-netting just minutes after the restart.

The lifeline Erskine’s penalty had given United energised Jackie McNamara’s side who were far more composed in the second period.

Midway through the second period Allan arrived to a warm reception from the visiting support while Griffiths headed off to rest up ahead of Monday’s trip to Sweden. Allan almost made an impact within seconds, impudently chipping Zwick whom he had spied off his line but the United keeper recovered.

It was, however, only a matter of time before Zwick was stooping to pick the ball out of his net. Once more United had a part to play in their own downfall, as Coll Donaldson's deflection from Callum McGregor's shot wrongfooted the United keeper to skid into the net.

Again, though, Erskine almost pulled one back for United immediately with Bailly sticking out a foot to deny him. It was Erskine's last involvement before he was replaced by Aidan Connolly.

Commons could have added a fourth to lend some gloss to the scoreline but all in all Celtic will look on it as a decent afternoon's work.

DUNDEE UNITED: Zwick; Dillon, Donaldson, Durnan, Dixon; Spittal, Fraser (Dow 54), Souttar, McGowan, Erskine (Connolly 77); Muirhead (Murray 67). Subs: McCallum, H. Souttar, Telfer, Murray, Coote, Connolly.

CELTIC: Bailly; Janko, Ambrose, O’Connell, Izaguirre; Mackay-Steven, Commons, Mulgrew (McGregor 61), Rogic (Thomson 79), Stokes; Griffiths (Allan 67). Subs: Fasan, Scepovic, Allan, McGregor, Kelleher, Thomson, Tierney.