Griffiths eyes seven-point gap in Scottish Premiership title race

Griffiths, who earned his first start for Scotland in their friendly win over Denmark on Tuesday, bagged a goal against Hearts back in October as Celtic knocked them out of the League Cup.

However, the Glasgow giants have struggled in the league with the Edinburgh side holding the Hoops to a goalless draw at Celtic Park back in September before playing out a thrilling 2-2 draw at Tynecastle in December.

And Griffiths, who formerly played for Hearts' rivals Hibernian, says he is eager to add to his tally of 35 for the season when the sides meet at Parkhead on Saturday after missing the last league meeting due to injury.

"The last time I played Hearts we put them out of the cup, though it was disappointing earlier in the season when we played them at Celtic Park and we had chances to win two games but drew 0-0," the Celtic striker said.

"After beating them in the cup, we drew 2-2 just after Christmas when I was injured so hopefully we can get the three points and it will set us up for a good weekend."

A win would see Celtic open up a seven-point gap at the top of the table ahead of Aberdeen's match against Hamilton on Sunday.

However, Hearts boss Robbie Neilson says his side have improved since their last visit to Celtic Park and insists his side are aiming to win at the Glasgow ground for the first time since 2009.

"We defended well and had an opportunity to nick it at the end," said Neilson.

"We have progressed recently. The players that have come in have more experience of the Scottish game, the younger players have more experience of playing first-team football, so I think we are in a better position than we were the last time.

"The players are confident. We want to go there and win and we have an idea of how we are going to do it. And hopefully we will do it."

Elsewhere on Saturday, Dundee United, who are seven points adrift at the bottom of the table, face a tough trip to McDiarmid Park to take on fourth placed St Johnstone. 

Second bottom Kilmarnock, who are still looking for their first win under manager Lee Clark, will continue their attempt to move out of the relegation play-off spot when they face Partick Thistle at Fir Hill while Inverness Caledonian Thistle host Motherwell.

Fixtures (1400GMT unless otherwise stated)

Saturday

Celtic v Hearts (1130), Dundee v Ross County, Inverness CT v Motherwell,

Partick Thistle v Kilmarnock, St Johnstone v Dundee United

Sunday

Aberdeen v Hamilton (1130)