There was much talk about who would be fit for Celtic, and Larsson, Sutton and Hartson all started the game, alongside Neil Lennon, Stan Petrov and Johan Mjallby, who missed out on Thursday night.
Today was a game where we witnessed the worst refereeing performance of the season, by the diabolical John Underhill.
It took Celts only 3 minutes to grab the early lead we had hoped for, after a frantic attacking start. Alan Thompson passed wide to Chris Sutton, his low cross was tapped in by John Hartson to give the table-toppers an early lead.
The Celtic fans in the pathetic excuse of a Main Stand alongside myself, were talking of a 5-0 effort at this stage, but it wasn't to be.
Motherwell began to attack the Celtic backline, and on 24 minutes, Derek Adams curled a sweet shot from a free-kick, which rebounded off the Celtic crossbar.
As the home side continued to press, they were awarded a penalty for nothing, the worst referee in the SPL, Underhill, awarded Motherwell a penalty when Clarkston blatantly dived at the feet of Johan Mjallby. Motherwell's luck was shown up though, when Rab Douglas made a terrific save from the spot kick.
The referee was the subject of howling abuse from the Celtic support, when he booked Henrik Larsson for what he thought was a dive in the Motherwell box. Anyone who was at the game will agree that Underhill ran towards the penalty spot, as if to award Celtic the kick, but then changed his mind at the last split-second, booking The King, who was substituted minutes later for Jamie Smith.
Smith was at the centre of Celtic's next goal attempt, when a Liam Miller shot was blocked by Gordon Marshall, Smudger only had to place the ball into the net, but instead blasted over the bar. Many fans are running out of patience with Jamie Smith.
Motherwell always looked dangerous, but Celtic clinched the early Christmas present with 20 minutes remaining.
Stan Petrov was brought down on his way to goal - which should have been a sending-off offence - Alan Thompson delivered the free-kick into the top corner of Marshall's net, sending the Celtic fans wild, and the huns in disguise home.
It was party time for the Hoops faithful, who are well up for revenge against Hibs on Saturday, and looking forward to an early title party against the huns in January.
Celtic:
Douglas - 8
Balde - 7
Varga - 9
Mjallby - 8
Lennon - 9
Petrov - 7
Miller - 7
Thompson - 8
Sutton - 8
Hartson - 7
Larsson - 6 (Smith - 6)
Celtic-Mad Man of the Match: Neil Lennon