If Celtic’s expensive surface is currently under the weather with a disease, Brendan Rodgers’ side remain in robust health. There was nothing about the pitch that threatened the Parkhead side’s exuberance as they left St Mirren reaching for a cold compress.

There was a brace for Oliver Burke who netted a double in each half while Scott Sinclair held his nerve to net from the spot and Timothy Weah added a fourth. There could have been more on a night that felt like a telling contribution to the title race as Rangers slipped up at Kilmarnock.

Celtic now hold a three-point lead at the top and still have a game in hand to play. 

It would be difficult, too, to underestimate the effect the goals may well have on Burke. He got lucky with the opener that St Mirren keeper Vaclav Hladky ought to have held – the effort seemed fairly tame – but from the minute it hit the back of the net the confidence seemed to ooze out of the Scotland internationalist.

He had retained his starting slot, a decision that was vindicated just 11 minutes into the game when he got Celtic on track to all three points. James Forrest was fouled on the flank and as Ryan Christie curled the resultant free-kick into the box, Burke powered through to get his head on the end of it. If there was something fortuitous about the strike, it didn’t dampen Burke’s celebrations and little wonder.

It was Burke’s first goal since August – and only his second in the last 18 months - and the confidence the Scotland internationalist imbued from the goal seemed evident almost immediately in his play. Shortly after claiming his first goal at the club, Burke turned provider when he unselfishly teed up Callum McGregor following a clever ball from James Forrest. With the goal gaping, McGregor somehow lifted his effort over the bar.

In between times Celtic had doubled their advantage. Scott Sinclair was fouled in the box by Stephen McGinn and immediately stepped up to convert from the spot. It was the winger’s 12th goal of the season but notable more for the fact that he had the gumption, as he had insisted he would, to take the spot kick despite missing two of his previous three.

With St Mirren’s defence looking ill at ease and unable to sustain their discipline at the back, further goals seemed likely with Celtic entirely dominant in possession.

If there had been a few surprises in the starting line-up, there were none in the manner with which Celtic overcame St Mirren with ease. Scott Bain kept the gloves after his weekend Scottish Cup showing while Mikael Lustig was back in at right-back following the news that the unfortunate Anthony Ralston is looked at a chunk of time in the treatment room after sustaining ankle ligament damage in the win over Airdrie.

Kristoffer Ajer was also back in for Dedryck Boyata who missed the game with a groin strain. Still, if there are aches and pains throughout Celtic’s first-team squad there was something sprightly about the manner in which they dismissed a chaotic St Mirren side.

Ivorian striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo was paraded at the interval after he completed his move to the club. The 21-year-old will be formally unveiled by the club later today but he was given a warm welcome by the Parkhead support.

It will be interesting to see just how quickly he fits into Rodgers’ side and, indeed, just who else may follow him before the window ends next week. Burke looked far more comfortable last night than he did on his debut performance but there remains a suspicion that he could sit just behind an out-and-out striker. 

Bayo’s arrival, Odsonne Edourd’s return to fitness and Weah will all give Rodgers’ attacking options now as Celtic look to capitalise on their run of home games.

And while much has been discussed regarding the Parkhead side’s domestic inconsistency this term, it is notable than on their own soil they have shipped just four goals in all league games, two of which came against Hibs.

It came as little surprised when Celtic added further goals to the scoreline. Burke claimed his second and Celtic’s third of the evening after Forrest and then McGregor had been denied by a double block by St Mirren’s Czech goalkeeper. But as the rebounded fell to the feet of Burke, he spun to dispatch the ball into the net.

There could have been more; Weah wasn’t on the pitch long enough to have worked up a sweat when he clipped the post after McGregor had flipped the ball. A minute later the American’s effort crept just wide of the post as Celtic stayed in the hunt for further blood.

The teenager, though, got in on the act after collecting a delicate through ball from Ewan Henderson and drilling a low effort into the net to make it two out of two for the on-loan PSG forward.