Chris Hogg thinks Hibs could give Celtic a fright today. Is this tempting fate as I am sure Hamilton's Billy Reid said something similar before yesterday?

Hibs defender Chris Hogg is confident that the Easter Road club are capable of getting a decent run going to push for a top-three place. They have managed to stave of losing fin their last three games but have fallen nine points behind rivals Hearts. Hogg and his team-mates have watched their Edinburgh counterparts move steadily closer to the Old Firm with a run of five successive wins. While they are eager not to lose any more ground they have a challenge to pick up points today when the SPL leaders come to town. However, former Ipswich defender, Hogg reckons Hibs can catch Hearts and Dundee United, who currently lie in fourth place.

He said: "I think players may well be aware of the gap from third and for me personally it's disappointing to see. You just have to knuckle down and get as many points on the board as possible. For us personally, we need to get more points if we are to achieve what we want to achieve. We have picked up a few points in the last few weeks, not as many as we would have liked but it's the way football goes. We need to keep our run of picking points up going and push on. I think it is disappointing we have not gone on a sustained run but I think there is still plenty of time for us to do that. As long as we keep our spirits up and keep focused, I think the run of results will come. We think we are capable of doing something like that. I can only speak for myself but I am more than confident we can put a few results together. It's a tough league and everyone knows that."

Celtic head to Edinburgh looking to record their 13th straight league win but Hogg insists the side have not been paying any attention to their opponent's domestic success. They have been looking at how today's home side have performed, like when they gave the visitors a fright in their 4-2 loss at Parkhead earlier in the season. He went on: "I don't think we want to think about what they have done in past games, we have to concentrate and impose ourselves on the game. I think our performance at Parkhead was good and scoring two goals away from home, you would look to take points out of the game."

Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen has no fresh injury worries ahead of today's televised game as the versatile Sol Bamba suffered no reaction to a knee injury after featuring in last week's 1-1 draw at Falkirk and midfielder Dean Shiels has also fully recovered from an ankle problem.

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