Brendan Rodgers has admitted that Celtic’s commanding lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table has, at times, taken the sharpness out of his side’s performances this season.

The Parkhead boss is closing in on a fourth consecutive league title for the club, with Celtic sitting 15 points clear of Rangers. But while the gap at the summit leaves little doubt about where the trophy will be heading, Rodgers believes the security of that cushion has allowed complacency to creep into some displays.

Speaking to Premier Sports, Rodgers was honest in his assessment of the impact such dominance can have on a group of players. “Sometimes the comfort, this is the thing I talked about, it’s not nice,” he said. “You want it, but you don’t really as a manager because you miss the edge.”

The Hoops dropped points against St Johnstone, Hibernian, Dundee, and Rangers in recent matches, a spell which highlighted that very issue. Rodgers pointed to the 1-0 defeat in Perth as an example where the edge was missing from his team.

“That took the edge off a couple of our performances, like when we played St Johnstone a few weeks ago,” he added. “But, last week against Kilmarnock, [we were] very, very good. The players were brilliant [vs St Johnstone on Sunday] and the concentration was very good.”

Rodgers will hope his squad maintain that focus and intensity as they head into the post-split fixtures and the Scottish Cup final on the horizon, with the chance of another domestic treble still very much alive.

Celtic will face Aberdeen on May 24 at the National Stadium as they look to secure yet another treble, which will be Brendan Rodgers’ third over two spells as manager.