CELTIC can land another early mental blow to Aberdeen’s title pursuit if they beat Hearts tomorrow lunchtime.

That is the vow of Hoops goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who reckons playing first gives the Parkhead team a psychological edge going into the Premiership run-in.

In their last game Celtic struck a last-gasp winner at Rugby Park in the early kick-off before Derek McInnes’s men failed to do likewise against Motherwell just a couple of hours later.

It is a similar scenario tomorrow as Celtic take on the Jambos at 12.30pm ahead of Aberdeen’s home tie with Hamilton Accies 24 hours later.

And Gordon is grateful for the fixture schedule that could see the Dons go into their game seven points adrift by the time they take to the park.

He said: “We have the chance to put pressure on them. We have the early kick-off again so we want to do that.

“At this stage of the season these things count. I think you need to put that pressure on. Everyone is going to be looking to see what the other team’s results are.

“If you can then put a good result on and another three points on the board, it’s going to make it a lot more difficult the teams coming after to reply and go out to have that edge about them to make sure they get the three points as well.

“It’s a difficult thing to do and I think it’s good to have the early game.”

While some expected Aberdeen’s challenge to have fallen away by this stage of the season, Gordon admits he has not been in the least bit surprised that the team from the Granite City have been rock solid for most of the campaign,

“No, not at all. They are a good team that are really solid,” he said.

“They have been getting a few players back from injury and they’ve already been through a spell where a few of their bigger players have been out.

“Up until last week they’ve still been getting the results so I’ve no doubts they’ll stick pick up a good number of points between now and the end of the season.”

Gordon is looking forward to getting back to competitive business after an enjoyable but relaxed international break.

After being allowed a few days downtime last week, the Scotland goalkeeper kept a clean sheet on Tuesday night as Gordon Strachan’s men defeat Denmark 1-0.

It offered a change of scenery for all involved and the Celtic No.1 thinks it has come at just the right time.

“I think it’s a good breather,” said Gordon. “For me personally it’s been quite good.

“I wasn’t in the first squad so I managed to get four or five days’ of a break which freshened things up before I came back to do a few days training for this.

“It was quite good for me as it helped me get rid of a few aches and pains and hopefully getting my fitness back up on the other days that we had.

“Overall it worked out pretty well for me.”