'Celtic one win from perfect start'

Celtic's first phase of the season couldn't really have worked out any better if Brendan Rodgers had been allowed to write the script himself.

After a torrid start to his second coming this time last year, it's all smiles 12 months on. Should Celtic see off their arch rivals in Sunday's League Cup final, a perfect first phase of the season will be complete.

Domestic domination? Check. The defending champions haven't lost to Scottish opposition in a 30-game streak stretching back to early March.

Frankly, they haven't looked like losing. Just the two points dropped in the Premiership. Rangers comfortably beaten in the first derby. The early cup rounds negotiated with minimum fuss and a six-goal bonanza against nearest league challengers Aberdeen.

European respectability restored in the Champions League? Check. The measure of Celtic's improvement is their disappointment at failing to beat Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia this week.

That draw takes them on to nine points from six games. They've only lost once – to last year's runners-up Borussia Dortmund. Good wins over Slovan Bratislava and RB Leipzig. Creditable draws with Dinamo, Atalanta and Club Brugge.

A more than decent body of work which means a win in January at Celtic Park over pointless Young Boys will all secure progression to the knockout phase. European boxes ticked, and then some.

Which leaves us with the season's first trophy, up for grabs on Sunday. Celtic go into the match as favourites given their current form and their results against Rangers.

Philippe Clement has yet to win a derby since his arrival in Scotland over a year ago.

Celtic have not lost a meaningful one since Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side knocked them at the semi-final stage of the 2022 Scottish Cup.

Rodgers has the best win ratio of any modern manager in this fixture, up around the 80% mark.

While cup finals can be notoriously unpredictable, if Celtic's winning trend continues, Rodgers will look back on this first phase of the season with a great deal of satisfaction.

It's very hard for things to go perfectly. A win at Hampden on Sunday will get Celtic's first five months of this campaign pretty close.