Owen Coyle says the Hoops recovered from a 'punch in the nose' against Rangers back in December to go on and seal the Premiership title.

Celts succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to their fierce rivals at Parkhead as the pendulum seemed to swing in the Light Blues' favour. Steven Gerrard's men went into the winter break just two points behind, with a game in hand.

Coyle always believed his former employers would rally and bring excitement to the run-in. And he wasn't surprised to see Neil Lennon's charges battle back to win the title by a whopping 13 points. "Celtic know how to win; they know how to be champions," Coyle told Football Daft podcast.

"They know how when they’ve had a bad day - as they had in that game just before New Year [against Rangers] - when you’ve had that punch in the nose, they know how to bounce back. They know they’ve got that character within the dressing room; they know how to get themselves back up to the level they were again.

"And that’s why I thought ‘the second half season is going to be great, if Rangers can sustain it’, because Celtic are going to ramp it up as they always do in those last months of the season.

"Two defeats and two draws – that shows you in terms of the level of consistency they’ve had. It’s incredible."