Celtic manager Neil Lennon had nothing but praise for his players as they defeated AIK 2-0 to give them the advantage going into the second leg of their Europa League play-off.

James Forrest scored just after half-time to put the hosts in the lead before Odsonne Edouard struck home a free-kick against the Swedish side. Lennon said he saw a committed and impressive display from his players.

"An outstanding performance. It was a great team performance," he said. "We played particularly well first half but second half we had real control and could have scored more.

"I have got to be delighted with that. Some of the football we played was great and we scored some fabulous goals."

The result makes Celtic favourites to progress to the group stage of the competition but Lennon said they still had work to do to be sure of progress.

"Obviously we have a big game at the weekend but after that we'll look forward to AIK and approach it professionally to get the job done properly to look forward to the group stages," he said.

"But we still have a very important 90 minutes ahead of us and we can't take anything for granted."

The manager was particularly pleased to see his side record a clean sheet after conceding four goals against Cluj in their last European game and being taken to extra time by Dunfermline in the League Cup.

"It's really important because we hadn't had one for three or four games," he said. "We defended resolutely when we had to and our two centre halves were very strong. Boli Bolingoli played particularly well and Kris Ajer is having an outstanding tie of it as well.

"We were big and physical when we needed to be and let the rest of them get on with it."

But he was also full of praise for the players who got on the scoresheet and continued a strong start to the season.

He said: "Odsonne [Edouard] is playing brilliantly. He's leading the line superbly and I can't speak highly enough of his talent. He's an integral part and important figure in this team.

"I think Jamesy [Forrest] is underplayed in terms of public image, that suits him anyway.

"That's five goals in five games now and we don't take it for granted what he does. He's an outstanding player with so much more to come. I've known him for a long, long time. He did wonders for me first time around and he's doing it again."

Lennon welcomed new signing Fraser Forster back to the club as the goalkeeper signed a season-long loan deal and he revealed that Scott Bain is expected to be out for around a month with a dislocated thumb, making him a doubt for Scotland's Euro 2020 qualifiers against Russia and Belgium.