Celtic restored their seven-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership by strolling to a 4-1 win at Hearts on Sunday.

Three of the Hoops' Japanese contingent were on target as Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi and Tomoki Iwata struck after Matt O'Riley fired the visitors into an early lead.

After a slow start to Brendan Rodgers' second spell in charge, Celtic are again beginning to dominate domestically.

But the Scottish champions face a big step up in class when they aim to end a drought without a Champions League win against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

O'Riley's fine form to start the season saw him earn a first senior international call-up by Denmark last week.

The midfielder continued his scoring streak in style by cushioning home Luis Palma's pass on the volley for his sixth goal in nine league games after just four minutes.

Hearts had cut the allocation of tickets to travelling Celtic fans in the hope that a more intimidating atmosphere could inspire a first win over the Hoops since 2021.

However, many of the home support had left before the hour mark after an insipid performance by Steven Naismith's men.

Maeda had a simple task to tap home Reo Hatate's powerful cross to double the visitors' lead on 23 minutes.

Hatate then missed a penalty at the start of the second-half as his spot-kick came back off the post.

But he made amends with an audacious flick that opened up the Hearts defence moments later and led to Kyogo sweeping home his sixth goal of the season.

Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland ended his eight-game goal drought with a sublime finish off the inside of the post.

However, Celtic quickly restored their three-goal cushion when Iwata smashed home his first goal for the club after a goalmouth scramble.

Defeat leaves Hearts still in fourth, four points adrift of third-placed St. Mirren.