Celtic winger James Forrest has insisted that the Parkhead side have no qualms about coping with what is perceived as gruelling schedule of games over the festive period.

This month Brendan Rodgers’ side have games at Easter Road, Pittodrie and Ibrox with every midweek filled with either domestic of European fixture.

For Forrest, though, it is something that Celtic are well used to as they look to prolong a two-pronged assault on the Europa League and Scottish front.

“People always say that December is a busy month but every month has been like that for us bright from the start,” said the Scotland internationalist. “Most of us have had pretty much the same number of games all the time but we have the players and a squad which can keep bouncing back game after game.

“We now have at least another two matches more than anyone else because we’ve qualified from our Europa League group but the manager said when he first came to the club that the top players and the most best teams always play the most games and that’s what we want to do.

“You want to play for your country and you want to be in Europe after Christmas because it gives you a real boost. So yes, we do play more matches than the others but that’s because we’ve been successful.

“When we came back from the last international week we started putting together some good results but we’ll just take it game by game as always. We have five Premiership fixtures before the winter break and we’ll be looking to take three points from all of them.”

Celtic head to Easter Road tomorrow with Neil Lennon’s side struggling to find the form of the opening months of the campaign.

Hibs have slipped to eighth in the table after a turbulent and frustrating few weeks but Forrest is wary of taking anything for granted against the Leith side.

Celtic beat Hibs 4-2 in October at Celtic Park but Lennon was fuming at the result and Forrest, who was mentored and brought into the Celtic first-team by Lennon, is always expectant of Hibs being up for it whenever they take on Celtic.

“Ever since Neil Lennon has been there Hibs have given us really hard games,” said Forrest. “That’s been the case for a few seasons now and we know it’s going to be really tough through there and we know we’ll need to really be at it on Sunday.”

Meanwhile, Forrest has admitted that the manner of Celtic’s progression into the latter stages of the Europa League was one of the more bizarre evenings he has had in his career to date.

Until news filtered through that Rosenborg, the whipping boys of the group, had taken a point from Leipzig, Celtic were looking at an insipid exit from the tournament.

“It was definitely a bit strange,” said Forrest. “We were all disappointed because we’d lost at home in Europe but that will pass over the next few days and I think we can say that we did enough over the six matches to qualify. It was a hard group so we can be really positive about what we’ve achieved.

“Obviously, we weren’t happy with our performance or the result but, on the plus side, we did what we set out to do and we need to look forward to the next round in the New Year.

“We can also taken the positivity from getting out of the group into the game at Easter Road. We don’t like losing in front of our own fans but, over the piece, we’ve done enough in some difficult games and we’ve also shown some character as well and we’ll need to do that on Sunday as well.”

In some ways Celtic injury problems are easing with the return of Kristoffer Ajer and the re-emergence of Scott Brown but Mikael Lustig and Ryan Christie are the latest to cause consternation.

“I think we’ve dealt really well with that in the last couple of months,” said Forrest. “We’ve had key players out but the ones who’ve come in have had a chance to stake their claim and you saw that with Ryan, who’s done that superbly in the last few months.

“Now it opens it up for someone else and that competition for places is always healthy. It’s still too early to say how he’s going to be but, with the form he’s been in for club and country, everyone will be hoping he’s all right and that he’ll be back sooner rather than later.”