Derek McInnes sends message on Celtic and Hearts ‘advantage’ in title race after Rangers loss

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Celtic have started the post-split fixtures with a bang.

Martin O’Neill’s side were first up as Celtic beat Falkirk on Saturday evening, and then sat back while Hearts and Rangers tried to deal with the pressure on Sunday.

Rangers were beaten by Motherwell at Ibrox, while Hearts won the bragging rights against bitter rivals Hibernian, and Derek McInnes thinks the top two are now at an ‘advantage.’

“It’s an advantage for Celtic and ourselves because we’ve won our games this weekend and Rangers didn’t,” stated McInnes.

“But there’s another round of fixtures coming up, so it can quickly change.”

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Celtic and Hearts win post-split fixtures while Rangers lose to Motherwell

Dropping points now could prove to be very, very costly; that’s why the next round of matches could be pivotal in this stormy three-way Premiership title race.

Once again, Celtic will play first, going to a deflated Hibernian on Sunday, knowing that a win would put the champions of Scotland level on points with the leaders and four ahead of Rangers.

That’s why McInnes is insisting that their win in the Edinburgh derby ‘counts for nothing’ if they can’t back it up against Rangers next Monday night, as he told BBC Sport.

Although McInnes isn’t admitting it, many now sense that week two of the chaotic post-split fixtures could be defining, because if Rangers lose again, while their title rivals pick up maximum points, then this could turn into a two-way title race pretty quickly.

“It’s all about can someone come up with the big moment?” said McInnes about Hearts’ winning goal in the derby.

“Blair Spittal scores goals like that every day in training. He’s got such good quality. A lot of people could snatch at it. He keeps his knee over the ball, stays calm, and it could be such an important goal.

“It’s an advantage for Celtic and ourselves because we’ve won our games this weekend and Rangers didn’t, but there’s another round of fixtures coming up, so it can quickly change. Nothing gets decided today.

“A win in your first game [after the split] can give you confidence and impetus. The fact that we’ve beaten Rangers at Tynecastle already, we’re unbeaten at home all season, we’re confident with our work and what we do at Tynecastle.

“It’s one win ticked off, it’s one round of fixtures, it counts for nothing if we can’t go and back it up now.”