Callum Davidson hopes the footballing stars align against Celtic to give his St Johnstone side the chance of an upset at McDiarmid Park on Sunday.

The Saints thought they had grabbed a draw when the cinch Premiership leaders visited Perth in October before a thrilling finale ended up with the Hoops triumphant.

An Andy Considine own goal just before the break gave Ange Postecoglou’s side the lead but a strike by Alex Mitchell in the second minute of added time looked to have rescued a point for the Perth men only for Giorgos Giakoumakis to score the winner three minutes later to take the three points back to Glasgow.

Davidson’s side ended a seven-game losing run with a 2-0 win at Motherwell on Wednesday night, which will restore confidence, but the St Johnstone boss, who will be without loan player Adam Montgomery against his parent club, knows the circumstances have to be just right to get any joy against the league leaders, who won 4-1 when the sides met at Parkhead on Christmas Eve.

Davidson told St Johnstone’s official website: “Sometimes if you get Celtic on their day, they are very good.

“Hopefully they have an off-day and we are very good ourselves.

“It’s not the easiest of pitches to play on. We need to make sure we are ready for that, ready for any mistakes that can happen. Can we counter on that? Can we cause Celtic problems too?

“I don’t think it is a game we can sit in for 90 minutes, they have too much quality in the final third and they will hurt us.

“It is getting the right balance between when to go and when to sit in.

“As for the last home game against them we conceded just before half-time but if you can stay in the game long enough you give yourself a chance to get something out of the game.

“We are in a good place and it would be nice to get a result because that would continue the moment that we are trying to build.”