Ronny Deila spent last week in Spain, but his mind was on the less enticing surrounds of Celtic Park and Dens Park.

the Norwegian took advantage of the international calendar to grab a breather from the day-today minutiae of life at Lennoxtown.

He also took the chance to watch Patrick Roberts star for England Under-19s against Spain. That aside, he nevertheless spent much of the time preparing for what he believes is a critical week in Celtic’s quest for a fifth successive title.

The first part of his plan was successfully executed with what was an entertaining 3-1 win over Hearts on Saturday, but there is little respite before part two gets underway against Dundee tomorrow night.

“I always felt that Saturday’s game and Tuesday’s game were particularly important for us,” he explained. “Our aim is always to win games, to get points but I felt that if we could come out of this week with six points from six then it could be a very big step for us.

“I was delighted with the performance and the result against Hearts. Yes, there are aspects that I think we can still improve on and get better but it was a good afternoon. Now we want to do the same against Dundee.

“If we can come out of this week with the momentum still going then it gives us so much positive energy.

"We are getting into a strong position and all along we have been wanting to get here. We have a chance now to start to push forward.

“There are not so many games left and if you are playing well and getting good results then you know you will have your reward very soon.”

Gary Mackay-Steven cancelled out Jamie Walker’s opener at the weekend before Gary Mackay-Steven and Patrick Roberts put Celtic in the driving seat.

It was the 19-year-old winger who stole the show and Deila acknowledged after the game that it will be impossible to leave the player out of tomorrow night’s game.

However, with Tom Rogic recovering from concussion and Charlie Mulgrew nursing a slight groin strain, there may be some changes ahead of Dens Park.

“We might change it around a little bit but we have to wait and see how everyone is,” said Deila.

“Patrick will be hard to leave out after coming in and scoring two very good goals but there were also other performances that pleased me.

“Tom we will wait and check on later today but we have to listen to what the medical staff think.”

And Deila also revealed that while Leigh Griffiths played played 77 minutes of Celtic’s 3-1 win over Hearts, he might not have played at all under different circumstances.

The Celtic striker suffered a migraine on Thursday and spent most of the day vomiting because of it. However, he was willing to get back onto the pitch to aid the club’s quest for a fifth successive title, much to the manager’s enthusiasm.

“Leigh had a bit of sickness because of the migraine but he wanted to play and was hungry to get out there – and he is so important to us that we wanted him to play,” explained Deila.

Given Griffiths’ stats this season, his recent outings with a return could count as something of a dry spell.

The striker didn’t net against Kilmarnock, on Scotland duty against Denmark and although a couple of free kicks came close to giving him a goal against Hearts at the weekend, he left the field without his name on the scoresheet.

Deila, though, believes that the striker will be back to normal as Celtic look to widen the gap at the top this week.

“He has had the problem on Thursday and there was also a little niggle with his calf recently so he has been playing in games without quite being properly fit.

“So I would not worry too much about Leigh scoring goals. He has showed this season how important he is to us with the number of times he has scored and I am sure that between now and the end of the season that there will be at least a few more.”

Saturday afternoon was arguably the most entertaining game that Celtic Park has witnessed this season and Deila believes that the atmosphere had a contribution to make to his side’s result.

“That is so important,” he said. “The two last games have been fantastic and I think it has given us a big lift. We are Celtic, we are together and we are going to fight for the trophies.

“When you have that positive atmosphere in the stadium, it comes onto the pitch. It helps the players, it lifts the game. It has been good. Hopefully now there are more days like that to come.”