Chris Sutton scored twice as Celtic recovered from a goal down to beat bottom club Partick Thistle 3-1 at home and move eight points clear of champions Rangers in the SPL.
James Grady hit a surprise 11th minute opener for the division's bottom side at a sodden Celtic Park before a goal from Henrik Larsson (23) and two from his strike partner Sutton (36, 60) maintained Celtic's unbeaten league record.
Celtic - who have now played 35 domestic games without defeat - lead the standings with 40 points from 14 games with champions Rangers on 32 before their trip to Hibernian tomorrow.
Celtic must now prepare to face Thistle again in a Scottish League Cup third round tie on Thursday.
"It wasn't one of our best games today," said Celtic manager Martin O'Neill. "We were trying to get up for the game and a few of the boys were tired from the Champions League match (Wednesday's 0-0 draw at home to Bayern Munich).
"We fell a goal behind and Thistle played very well against us and no doubt they'll do so again on Thursday. I'm just delighted to have won."
Partick, who have just two points and are still without a league win this season, went ahead when Grady's header from Derek Fleming's free kick went in off the underside of the bar. But Celtic equalised 12 minutes later when Sutton set up Larsson to score and the Englishman put them ahead early in the second half when he flicked Larsson's free kick into the net.
With Partick's players visibly wilting, Larsson crossed for Sutton to slide home the match-clinching third on the hour mark with his 10th goal in seven games.
Dundee, who sacked over 25 players and coaches after being forced into administration on Monday, brought some much-needed comfort to their suffering fans as they drew 1-1 at Livingston. Derek Lilley slotted home a 71st minute penalty for Livingston before Mark Fotheringham levelled for the visitors with six minutes left.
Dunfermline recovered from 2-0 down at home versus Aberdeen to earn a 2-2 draw while Kilmarnock won 2-0 against visiting Motherwell at Rugby Park.
Third-placed Hearts, on 26 points, are six points clear of Motherwell and Dunfermline in fourth and fifth respectively. Hearts visit Dundee United in tomorrow's other game.