Celtic 5 - 2 St Johnstone
By: Clive Lindsay (BBC Sport) Marc-Antoine Fortune and Shaun Maloney grabbed two goals apiece as Celtic made sure there was no hangover from their Euro defeat by beating St Johnstone.
Maloney set up Fortune to fire home the opener from 16 yards before the midfielder headed the second himself.
Collin Samuel pounced on a Gary Caldwell error to fire Saints' first. But Maloney and Fortune both scored from long range after the break and Scott McDonald headed Celtic's fifth before Jody Morris slotted a reply.
Fortune and McDonald had returned to the Celtic side after missing out against Arsenal in midweek, with Georgios Samaras and Landry N'Guemo dropping out.
St Johnstone started with only Samuel up front, with Chris Millar and Garry Irvine returning and Liam Craig, Kenny Deuchar and Steven Milne making way. Celtic started on the front foot without troubling the visiting defence and it was St Johnstone who created the early chances on the break.
Only a last-ditch tackle by Scott Brown prevented winger Filipe Morais rushing clear with a great chance to open the scoring.
Samuel was next to burst through and Celtic would have been in trouble had the forward been able to play a better pass across the face of goal. Celtic suddenly upped a gear and threatened to overwhelm the Division One champions.
Fortune cut the ball back for McDonald, but his strike partner screwed the ball wide.
In a repeat of that move on the other flank, Maloney jinked past a couple of defenders and Fortune side-footed home from 12 yards following the low cross for the former Nancy striker's first goal for his new club.
Graham Gartland cleared a Fortune header off the line then goalkeeper Alan Main parried clear a McDonald drive.
But Celtic scored their second goal within seven minutes when Maloney headed home Andreas Hinkel's cross from 12 yards.
Celtic looked like they were poised to overwhelm St Johnstone, but a mistake by Caldwell gifted the visitors a goal after 36 minutes.
The Scotland defender, who was sent off against Norway this month and scored an own goal in midweek against Arsenal, was short with a back header and Samuel lashed home a drive from 22 yards. Celtic almost extended their lead immediately after the break when Main saved from an Aiden McGeady drive and Stuart McCaffrey cleared the loose ball before two quick goals killed off the Saints challenge.
Maloney slipped inside his marker to drive the ball home from 20 yards after 53 minutes and, within a minute, Fortune found the bottom corner from wide on the left after a fine through ball from McGeady.
Fortune missed a great chance to secure his hat-trick minutes later but fired wide from only five yards.
Celtic eased down as they secured a confidence-boosting victory ahead of the second leg of their Champions League qualifier against Arsenal, with McDonald heading home from a couple of yards out.
There was still time for Morris to weave into the box and poke the ball home off the inside of the far post.
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St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes: "Losing five goals is a sore one to take, but we will take positives from it.
"There was a gulf there in terms of keeping the ball and creating chances, but we still had two or three chances before Celtic scored.
"I am disappointed at the manner of some of the goals, but I think Celtic will score four or give goals against a few teams this season.
"And I think Collin Samuel can be very pleased with his performance."Full Scottish Premier table Position Team P GD PTS
1 Celtic 2 5 6
2 Hibernian 2 3 6
3 Motherwell 2 2 4
4 Dundee Utd 2 2 4
5 Rangers 1 3 3
6 Aberdeen 2 1 3
7 Kilmarnock 2 1 3
8 St Mirren 2 -1 1
9 St Johnstone 2 -3 1 10 Hearts 1 -2 0
11 Falkirk 2 -5 0
12 Hamilton 2 -6 0
