Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald knows he is up against it tonight taking on what he describes as a ‘relentless’ Celtic side, but he thinks his in-form team can cause problems for the newly crowned champions.

Thistle have been in great form of late, and remarkably, have only conceded eight goals in the 15 games they have played since they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Celtic Park just prior to Christmas.

And on that evening, they came away with justifiable feelings of regret over their failure to take anything from a game in which they created as many clear-cut chances as the hosts.

A repeat performance, albeit with a slightly different outcome, would suit Archibald down to the ground this evening, but he acknowledges that becoming the blot on Celtic’s unblemished record to date would be far from easy.

“They’re almost invincible this year,” Archibald said. “They are a very tough side to play, there’s no getting away from that.

“You look at their game against Hearts on Sunday and how the absence of [Leigh] Griffiths and [Moussa] Dembele might have made them weaker.

“But that wasn’t the case. I thought they actually looked stronger. It looked like a really difficult system to play against.

“But we created good chances when we played at Celtic Park earlier in the season. So, we feel we can cause them problems.

“There will be a big crowd wanting to celebrate winning the title, and because it’s the first game, it’ll probably make it that bit harder.

“They haven’t shown any signs of relaxing or taking their foot off the gas this season. They’ve maybe been a tiny bit complacent in games when they’re already 2-0 up, but why not?

“That’s the only slight glimmer you’ve seen from them. Their results and team selection have been relentless.

“If there is a good atmosphere, we’ve got to make sure that we stifle it and keep things tight for the first 20 minutes.

“The fact that they are still chasing the record of going unbeaten all season won’t help anyone’s cause. They deserve all the plaudits that come their way because they have been fantastic.

“We know we will need a really good performance, but we will go there with the bonus of good confidence. If it’s going to be, it’s going to be.”

Thistle won’t be helped by the likely absence of captain Abdul Osman, who went for a scan on his shoulder yesterday after it dislocated before popping back into place against Ross County on Saturday.

His screening of the defence from midfield may well be missed, with centre-half Danny Devine admitting it will be difficult to identify where Celtic’s threat will be coming from with no recognized striker likely to line up against him.

“You just have to look at Sunday’s game to see that it doesn’t matter who they have got up top, the quality they have in their team and the strength in depth is obviously the best in the country,” Devine said.

“We know that whoever we are up against it is going to be tough, but maybe we can take something out of Sunday’s game to see what kind of shape they are going to play.

“The lads they have in attacking positions are quite mobile and they can play in a lot of different positions.

“As a defender, it is probably easier if you have a target man and you know who you are picking up, but we just have to get on with it and deal with it the best we can.”