Dundee defender James McPake is wary of any suggestion that it might be a below-par Celtic side who travel to Dens Park on Wednesday night.
The Parkhead club have won only two of their last seven matches in all competitions and have taken only one Ladbrokes Premiership point from their last six.
A shock 2-1 defeat at home to Motherwell which heaped criticism on boss Ronny Deila was followed by a 2-2 draw against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday which took them one point clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table.
McPake, however, while trying put Saturday’s 5-2 defeat at Ross County behind him, expects the champions to be on top form.
Asked if he felt there was a vulnerability about Celtic at the moment, the 31-year-old former Livingston, Coventry and Hibernian player said: “I don’t know. Sometimes you think that and they come and are at their best.
“They have to win every game. They are coming off the back of a defeat and a draw so they are coming here expected to win as they would have been if they had been on a five-match winning streak.
“They are under a bit of pressure to win so they will be at it, I’m sure.
“It will be a strong Celtic team coming desperate for a win to please their fans.
“We were all disappointed (after Ross County) but we came in, trained and got it out of our system.
“We have to be harder to play against and that has got to start on Wednesday because there is a massive test coming.”
If McPake or any of the other Dundee players needed reminding of how good Celtic can be they need only to look back to their visit to Parkhead in September when the Dees were thrashed 6-0.
“They were very good that day,” said the Northern Ireland cap. “To lose six goals is disappointing but sometimes you can put it down to them being very good rather than us being poor.
“But it is a different game on Wednesday and we have to be right at it to have a go at them.
“We all know they can do that to any team in this league but you have to believe that we can beat them.
“We have given them games in the past, where we have been unlucky not to win so we have to be optimistic that we can cause them problems.”