Hibernian midfielder Stevie Mallan feels they could not be in a better frame of mind to tackle Celtic and attempt to avenge their only defeat under Paul Heckingbottom.

Hibs have recorded six wins and two draws from eight Ladbrokes Premiership matches under Heckingbottom to seal a top-six place and give themselves an outside chance to claiming a European spot.

The only disappointment since Heckingbottom replaced Neil Lennon was a William Hill Scottish Cup defeat against their former head coach's new side.

And there is an added motivation for Hibs as they prepare to welcome Lennon and his league leaders to Easter Road on Sunday.

Mallan said: "You learn from your mistakes and we have a done a lot of analysis on the previous game. We will go in with a game plan. No matter who we play, we look back at the video of how we played in the previous game, the manager is big on video analysis.

"Celtic are the only team that have beaten us so far so it gives you that extra drive to show that we can beat anyone in the league and hopefully we can do that on Sunday.

"If you look at last season and this season we have taken points against Celtic, so the belief is always going to be there.

"We had a slow spell throughout the middle of the season but since the manager has come in we have picked up and probably played best football we have played all season.

"I genuinely don't think we could be in a better position to face Celtic."