Kieran Tierney has returned to familiar turf, yet it’s Celtic’s current situation that defies expectations.

When Tierney departed for Arsenal in 2019, he left behind a club that was accustomed to dominating at the top.

His aspirations of seamlessly resuming his journey with his home team have encountered unexpected challenges.

Despite the Northern Irish manager’s continued magic touch, as evidenced by nine victories and a draw in the Premiership, the team finds itself in a precarious position.

This Sunday, the Parkhead squad faces Kilmarnock, trailing behind Hearts and Rangers, while their adversaries clash at Ibrox.

The national tension escalates with each match, as no team has yet established a commanding lead.

While he’d far rather be coasting to the line in the manner of Rodgers’ Invincibles of 2016-17, Tierney feels the engrossing nature of this three-way fight would add an extra layer to the sense of achievement if Celtic could somehow find a way to prevail.

‘For me, it would be the top because of everything that’s happened this season,’ he stated.

‘Everyone can see it’s not been plain sailing. So, to come through that and if we do win it, it would be the best.

‘Obviously when I won my first title (2016) it’s amazing. The first treble (2017), we went invincible that season. We knew we’d won the league a couple of weeks before the season finished.

‘But this one would be the hardest-fought one. This year, it’s going to go right to the end.’

As the nights begin to get lighter, Celtic supporters are seeing more grounds for optimism.

Even though he was only afforded the final stages against Livingston in midweek, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s extraordinary debut suggested fears over the midfielder’s eight months out of the game may be unfounded.

The former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder’s arrival came on the back of Junior Adamu netting in injury time of his debut against Dundee.

Previously in the window, O’Neill signed Tomas Cvancara with Julian Araujo arriving a few days earlier. Both have made their respective marks.

Then there’s the burgeoning form of Tierney himself. There’s just no getting away from the fact this his early performances upon returning were underwhelming to the point where there were concerns over the impact of multiple injuries in his mid 20s.

How heartening it was then, for both the player and supporters to hear O’Neill state post-Livingston that the player who’d earned a £25million move to Arsenal back in 2019 was back in the building.

‘If someone hasn’t played consistently for three years, it’s hard to expect that in the first four weeks they’re going to be flying,’ Tierney offered.

‘I had two or three operations in the last couple of years, never played consistently and came back, was asked to play a lot of games at the start, so it’s going to take time.

‘Did I know it would be a slow burner? Yes.

‘It’s been a tough season for me, to be honest. I’ve just had to keep doing what I’m doing, do my recovery and the work in the gym.

‘I would say for the past couple of months I’ve been performing at a consistent level.

“I need to keep that up, keep defending well, helping the boys in attack and playing a lot of minutes.’

He was relieved that his resurgence wasn’t stopped in its tracks by the broken nose he sustained against Dundee last weekend.

A boot to the face from Cameron Congreve left Tierney somewhat surprised that his opponent escaped with just a booking.

‘I’m just glad it wasn’t worse and I was able to play again so soon, because my record of being available this season, touch wood, has been pretty good,’ he recalled.

‘I was surprised more wasn’t made of it because I knew I’d won the header. I wasn’t low and it was a high boot.

‘We have seen them (red cards) given against us, so I thought at the time it was going to be.’

Tierney survived that scrape to ensure his renaissance continued with 30 minutes from the bench against Livi.

The fervent hope of all at Parkhead will be that Oxlade-Chamberlain will also only improve once he gets more minutes in his legs.

The Englishman had already moved from Arsenal to Liverpool by the time Tierney arrived at the Emirates, but the impact he’d made in North London was abundantly clear.

‘A lot of the boys I played with played with him so told me what a good player he is,’ Tierney explained.

‘A few of them have texted me in the last couple of days as well. You can see his quality. Even the last few days in training you can see what he’s got, so it’s about building on that, building his fitness and he’ll be brilliant.’

On a night of relentless midweek drama, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s injury-time winner wasn’t even the end of the story.

Moments after celebrating the impact of a new hero, Celtic supporters were toasting Stephen Welsh’s late equaliser for Motherwell against Rangers which completed a four-point swing between the Glasgow sides.

Back on loan at Fir Park after briefly returning to Lennoxtown in January, the defender’s contribution in claret and amber might well prove to be as significant as any made by a player in green and white during the run-in.

‘The changing room was buzzing for him and I’m sure a few of the boys messaged him,’ Tierney said.

‘He’s a big part of things here. He’s well-liked by everyone so we were all delighted for him.

‘I think you could see in his celebration what it meant — he’s been here since he was young so loves the club.

‘He knows what it means to the club, but obviously he will be delighted for Motherwell too because that’s his club right now.

‘But to do it against Rangers and a turn for Celtic at the same time, it probably means a lot to him.’

Such is the way of things at the moment, O’Neill’s men will take all the help they can get.

The ongoing dispute between the club’s hierarchy and the support at large isn’t helping matters.

Whatever the board’s justification for it may be, the ongoing exclusion of the Green Brigade is detracting from the match day atmosphere at Celtic Park.

Having literally stood among them, both as a supporter and as a player with a megaphone in his hand, Tierney remains hopeful that the team’s 12th man is back onside sooner rather than later.

‘I would love the atmosphere to be the best it could be because the run-in is going to be tough,’ he stressed.

‘Everyone knows how the atmosphere can be at Celtic Park and how much it can help us, so I’d look forward to that.

‘I have known them for years, going to the games when I was younger.

‘When I went to the games I wanted to create an atmosphere as well, so I have a good relationship with them.

‘What messages have I had? Just things like ‘keep going’ and that we need to fight.

‘I saw a banner against Livingston saying ‘fight to the end’ and I think that’s the message every supporter would give to the players if they could speak to us.

‘We know everyone is backing us and supporting us, so we’re going out there doing our best.’