Celtic ease to Scottish Premiership victory over Dundee United

Celtic have eased to victory over Dundee United, scoring three goals in the first half of their Scottish Premiership clash this afternoon.

The teams were meeting for the fourth time in a fortnight, after Celtic beat United in the Scottish League Cup last weekend and Scottish Cup on Wednesday.

Former Dundee United duo Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong combined in the ninth minute, but Armstrong's shot was too high from outside the penalty area.

Mackay-Steven then came back to haunt his former employers seven minutes later, hammering the ball past a crowd of players and into the bottom corner.

Celtic continued to dominate, with Nir Bitton and Armstrong seeing their shots saved before John Guidetti doubled the lead for the Hoops. The Swedish striker combined well with Stefan Johansen before striking into the top-left corner from outside the area.

Nadir Ciftci was United's main threat in the first half but failed to test Craig Gordon on two separate occasions.

United struggled to cope with Celtic's front four as Mackay-Steven hit the post just before half time after linking up with Johansen and Armstrong.

Jason Denayer added a third in first-half stoppage time, scoring from close range.

Dundee United came out strongly in the second half with Charlie Telfer, John Rankin and Ciftci seeing shots saved by Gordon.

On the hour mark, Ryan Dow directed the ball towards the top-right corner but Gordon's diving effort kept the clean sheet intact.

Paul Paton fired over the bar with 10 minutes remaining, before Celtic substitute Stefan Scepovic's shot was blocked five minutes later.

The win extends Celtic's lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table to five points after Aberdeen failed to beat Dundee.