Hibernian captain Joe Newell rubbished any talk of him and his teammates lying down to Celtic this Sunday.

The Glasgow side would go level on points with Hibs’ rivals Hearts with a win at Easter Road, at least until the league leaders take on Rangers at Tynecastle on Monday evening.

Yet Newell says their neighbours title charge will have no bearing on performances levels in Leith.

He said: “I don’t think you could make it to this level without wanting to win. I’ve not met one who has.

“We’re a group of professional athletes. We fight with each other over five-a-side games in training.

“So if you think we’re going to lie down in front of thousands of people, in front of the Sky cameras, you’re wrong.

“We’ll be doing our utmost to win the game of football, it’s as simple as that.

“There’s a competitive edge all the time in training. You’re professional athletes, we get paid a lot of money to do this.

“So we’re doing a disservice to everyone if you roll over for what some fans want.”

The Hibees failed to derail Hearts’ historic title bid last Sunday, falling to a late 2-1 defeat in a match that seen them reduced to nine men.

With fans across the country beginning to anticipate a historic end to the season, Newell admits he understands why some Hibernian supporters would like to see their team lose at the weekend.

“Yeah. I get it. I completely get it.

“But we control what we can control. We’ve got a huge few games to play in terms of what we’re playing for.

“We need European football. We want to finish as high as possible.

“To go back-to-back would be a good achievement for the club, actually great achievement considering how often we’ve done it in the last few years.

“That’s something that we’re desperate for and that’s in our control.”

Hibs are 5th in the table, 6 points behind Motherwell and 5 ahead of Falkirk. A Scottish Cup win for Celtic would allow entry into the Conference League qualifiers for Hibs, should they fail to move from 5th by the end of the campaign.