CELTIC captain Scott Brown has expressed doubt the Ladbrokes Premiership will be played to a finish this season due to the coronavirus crisis.

However, Brown insisted the Parkhead club, who were 13 points clear of Rangers when football was suspended last month, will be deserved winners if the SPFL abandon the top flight and declare them champions for the ninth year running.

The midfielder is keen for the 2019/20 campaign to restart when the shutdown is lifted so that Neil Lennon’s team, undefeated domestically this year, can beat their city rivals to the league on the park.

But the 34-year-old is sceptical the Glasgow club, who are bidding to equal the record number of consecutive Scottish title triumphs this term, will be able to fulfil their remaining fixtures because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

UEFA last week gave the SPFL the go-ahead to curtail the Premiership – which they have already done in the Championship, League One and League Two – if completing the season proves impossible.

Speaking on Sportsound on BBC Scotland this afternoon, Brown admitted that he fears it will prove impossible to play the full 38 games in the coming weeks.

He said: “At the time when the season stopped, we’d just scored five against St Mirren at home and we were doing really well. We were looking like a proper threat and wanted it to go on as long as we could.

“So do I think, if at all possible, we should be playing out the season? Yes, definitely because we want to extend our lead at the top.

“We want to show the fans how well we can play and give them something back for supporting us throughout years. We want that nine-in-a-row and we want to play as many games as we possibly can.

“But, on a personal level, do I see us playing all the games with what’s going on just now with social distancing? I can’t see the games being played, but you never know.”

Brown continued: “I want to play on. I want to show how well we’ve done over the whole season.

“We’ve won one cup and have done extremely well after a little blip in December. But we went to Dubai and came back and have won all the games apart from away to Livingston which is a hard place to go on astro and, to be fair, they’re well organised. I’d love to see it get finished to show how strong that we were going to finish.”

The prospect of handing Celtic the Premiership has angered Rangers fans as Steven Gerrard’s team have nine games remaining and can still mathematically catch Neil Lennon’s side.

But Brown said: “We’re 13 points clear, we’ve got a great goal difference and we’ve got eight games to play. Does anyone see us being caught?”