Everybody wants Hearts to win - Celtic boss O'Neill

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill believes "everybody wants Hearts to win" as he prepares his side for Saturday's Scottish Premiership title decider.

Defending champions Celtic host Hearts (12:30 BST), needing to win to overtake them into first place. A win or a draw for Hearts would take the league trophy to Tynecastle for the first time since 1960.

O'Neill was asked about the fallout from the award of a penalty in Celtic's midweek win at Motherwell, which kept his side within a point of leaders Hearts.

At 2-2, Motherwell's Sam Nicholson jumped with Auston Trusty and, after a VAR intervention, John Beaton ruled Nicholson had committed a handball.

Hearts manager Derek McInnes described the award as "disgusting" and said his side were "up against everybody". Other prominent pundits have questioned the spot-kick, which was converted by Kelechi Iheanacho.

But O'Neill said: "It's obviously been magnified because of the occasion as much as anything else.

"Am I surprised? No, I'm not surprised, because everybody wants Hearts to win. It's really as simple as that.

"Everybody outside Celtic and the Celtic diaspora wants Hearts to win.

"And so if it wasn't Hearts, it would be Rangers, it would be somebody else. That's the nature of it."