Celtic narrowed the gap to Hearts at the top of the Scottish Premiership to seven points with a deserved home win over struggling Kilmarnock.

Goals from Johnny Kenny, Kieran Tierney, Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels secured all three points for Martin O'Neill's side, who have played a game fewer than the Tynecastle outfit.

Hearts were held 1-1 at home against Dundee United earlier on Sunday, providing the chance for Celtic to eat into the deficit.

Off the back of a disappointing display against Midtjylland in Denmark on Thursday in the Europa League, interim boss O'Neill made several changes to his starting line-up, including a debut for defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey.

And the defending Premiership champions started brightly back in front of their own fans, as Maeda blazed over the bar and Kenny struck the base of the post with a powerful low shot.

Moments later, Kenny had his goal, courtesy of some dreadful Kilmarnock defending.

Robbie Deas tripped over his own feet attempting to clear, allowing Reo Hatate to nip in and square it to the Irish striker, who had a tap-in.

Sebastian Tounekti, Kenny and Luke McCowan all went close for Celtic before half-time, but Kilmarnock could have levelled when Bruce Anderson rattled the crossbar with a powerful left-footed strike.

After the break though, Celtic quickly had their second goal - Tierney fizzing a shot into the far corner that was past goalkeeper Eddie Beach before he could react.

It was the Scotland defender's first Celtic goal since 8 November 2018 against RB Leipzig in the Europa League and he roared with delight after finding the back of the net.

The visitors never really threatened to hit back and Maeda flashed a low shot past Beach before Engels scored for the spot - for a foul on Yang Hyun-Jun by James Brown, late on to make it four.

Kilmarnock have dropped to 10th and have lost five league matches on the spin, scoring just twice in that run.

Celtic were dismantled by Midtjylland in Europe on Thursday, a crushing reminder of how far they have fallen since last season's Champions League loss against Bayern Munich.

But against more familiar opposition, they delivered a much-needed three points and performance.

They carved out chance after chance across the 90 minutes, having 40 touches and 15 shots in the Kilmarnock box and created an expected-goals tally of 2.92.

Hatate created seven chances from midfield, while Tierney impressed down the left flank - introduced off the bench after Marcelo Saracchi limped off injured.

O'Neill has undoubtedly improved Celtic's stuttering attack since his arrival as interim boss and it remains to be seen if he will still be in charge when Celtic travel to St Mirren on 22 November.

However, Kilmarnock were the architects of their own downfall at times.

Deas was at fault for the first goal, Beech went down in instalments for the second and was never convincing coming for crosses.

They are shipping goals at an alarming rate and will welcome the opportunity to regroup during the international break.

Celtic interim manager Martin O'Neill: "Delighted to have won, great to score an early goal - it settled things after Thursday night. There were some parts of the performance I was absolutely delighted with.

"I'm pleased to win, pleased for Kieran [Tierney] to score a goal. There were moments there were you thought 'that's the old player he was at one stage'. Injuries have hit him badly, but he's fighting back.

"I'm delighted we've won, and you do need help when you're chasing someone, but there's a long way to go.

"I'll take a little time in the international break, most of our players will be away, and there will be time of inner reflection. It's been a whirlwind of a fortnight, I can't believe it's really happened.

"I genuinely don't know [if I'll be back in two weeks]. If the board make up their mind, it's absolutely fine by me."

Kilmarnock manager Stuart Kettlewell: "That's the real frustration for us - all the goals are avoidable. We'll always say that as managers standing here, but there's a clear realisation what needs to be done in those given moments.

"We came into this chunk of games in real confidence, off the back of some good performances, and for one reason or another we now find ourselves lacking confidence and chasing a result. We have to take ownership of that.

"We're not shying away from it [five losses in a row] and pretending that's not the case. Our priority is Kilmarnock.

"We'll have players away playing for their national teams, but for the rest of us it's about knuckling down. Going away on holiday, getting their feet up and getting a bit of sunshine is definitely not going to be a thing. That's not going to turn the corner for us."

Kilmarnock host Motherwell after the international break on Saturday 22 November (15:00 GMT), while Celtic travel to St Mirren on the same day (20:00).