Hoops skipper Scott Brown sounded out a defiant cry today when he insisted that Celtic will not relinquish their grip on the league title.

It comes on the back of a week in which the Parkhead side saw their Treble ambitions disintegrate while their lead at the top of the table was cut to just three points by Aberdeen.

For the first time in 25 years the Dons have beaten Celtic twice in the same season at Pittodrie, a defeat that opened the floodgates once more to a rush of speculation regarding Ronny Deila’s future as manager.

The result also suggests that Celtic cannot afford to swat aside Aberdeen’s pretentions of being genuine league title challengers, but Brown was unequivocal in his view that he will be lifting a fifth successive Celtic title come May.

“There is always a title race but, at the end of the day, we will win the league again,” said Brown. “Yes, I’m absolutely certain.

“I think Aberdeen will fight us all the way to the end of the season but we are three points clear, we know what we have to do and we know how to do it.

“We are ahead of them. We have the biggest squad in the league, about 26 players in that dressing room now. We can chop and change four, five or six players and they are good players.”

Aberdeen could go joint top with Celtic this afternoon if they beat St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. Deila’s men are in Scottish Cup action as they face East Kilbride in Airdrie tomorrow, but Brown will not be pressing any panic buttons.

“We have the players there who can pull things out,” he said. “We have game-winners, we have game-changers, we have defenders. It’s just not all happening at once at the moment.

“We are still three points clear in the league, that’s what people need to remember. They are still chasing us. But we have the players there and we have two home games coming up, we need to keep it positive. We’ve done it for the last four seasons now. Hopefully we’ll be doing it at the end of the season as well and lifting that trophy.”

And the 30-year-old has also insisted that accusations that Celtic have not been playing for the manager are wide of the mark.

“They [Celtic players] get the abuse from Twitter and stuff, they know how the fans feel, they just need the fans to stick with us and know that we will show that we will win the league at the end of the season and that the manager is the right man for the job,” he insisted.

Kris Commons could feature in the Celtic squad tomorrow after missing out this week because of tonsillitis.