NORMALLY, tunnel vision isn’t a particularly desirable attribute in a winger, but James Forrest says that adopting a single-minded approach is crucial if Celtic are to win a ninth straight title.

So, while football fans all over the country are gripped by the nip and tuck race at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, Forrest says that the Celtic players aren’t giving city rivals Rangers a second thought.

There has been no half-time score updates or fervent refreshing of Twitter feeds after games in the Celtic dressing room to see how Rangers have been getting on according to him, just a desire to take care of their own business. Do that, and as the experiences of last year have shown them, then the league title will be there’s once again.

“Since we’ve come back [from the winter break] we have not spoken about them slipping up or anything about them,” Forrest said. “It’s all on ourselves.

“If you look elsewhere or concentrate on anyone else, you end up not doing the job yourself. We have been at it since we’ve come back from the winter break and it’s going to have to be similar in the games coming up. We need to be ready for every game.

“Is tunnel vision key? Yes, if you start thinking or hoping they drop points that’s when you risk taking the foot off the gas and dropping points yourself by not putting in performances.

“We all knew when we came back from the winter break that right up until March it was the same kind of schedule as in December, playing games every few days. But we are ready for it.

“We have started well but now we need to keep going and keep building on what we have done. That’s what we will be looking to do.

“We will just concentrate on ourselves and we have a few big games - a lot of away games in there - and we will be tested. Hopefully we can come through it.”

The first of that next run of games will be at Hamilton tomorrow, and Forrest is champing at the bit to get back out on the pitch after his goalscoring display at St Johnstone during the week.

His showing prompted manager Neil Lennon to declare that Forrest was ‘back to his very, very best’, and after refreshing himself physically and mentally over the break, the player also thinks he is ready to show his best form once more.

"I feel good,” he said. “I am fit again and it's great to be back.

"We had a good winter break and trained well, so I am happy to be back playing now.

"The results have also been good and I was happy score against St Johnstone.

"The season has been good so far and the break maybe came at a good time for everyone. Dubai was hard but we all felt the benefit, as you can see from the performances.

"Physically, all the boys felt fit before the break but it was good to get a rest on the mental side.

"To have a couple weeks off was good because we have a lot of games in the next few months.

"The manager has added a couple of players too and that will help us for the schedule coming up

"Hamilton on Sunday is another Astroturf pitch and it’s always a difficult game there. I think it was 1-0 at the start of the season there. We just need to keep playing like we have since we’ve come back from the winter break."

The injury sustained by Mikey Johnston in the win over St Johnstone prompted something of a rethink from Celtic manager Lennon in terms of the transfer window, but Forrest isn’t concerned by any new arrivals threatening his place in the starting line-up. If anything, he relishes the challenge of keeping that place even more.

"If you look at every window, the club is always looking to bring in attackers and wingers,” he said.

"When someone new comes in, it's good for the squad because the players already here raise their game.

"St Johnstone was a really good performance and the coaches said how good the first half was afterwards.

"We scored three and could have had more. It was a good start with a different formation.

"It was a refreshing performance and we all really enjoyed it.”

Forrest played as a wing-back in the first half of that match at McDiarmid Park, and his familiarity with the role may be another useful string to his bow when it comes to retaining his place, given that his manager is using the 3-5-2 formation on a more regular basis these days.

"I've played as a wing back more over the last few years," he said.

"When you have good defensive players behind you then they will talk you through it. But you have to do both - contribute going forward and also working back.

"If I'm asked to play that position, then I can do it no problem. The centre halves really help you as they talk you through it."