The form of Neil Lennon’s Celtic has raised the bar in the Scottish Premiership this season compared to last, Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has told The Scottish Sun.
When you look at the difference between the Bhoys this season and last term, after 20 matches, the Ibrox manager has a point.
Lennon’s current side has amassed 52 points so far this term, with Brendan Rodgers’ outfit in 2018/19 managing just 42 points at the same stage.
So while Gerrard’s team have improved, they still find themselves in second position.
With league action set to resume on Wednesday evening and the two Glasgow sides set to play at the same kick-off time, things are undoubtedly heating up at the top of the table.
And Gerrard is not expecting Celtic to drop many points between now and the end of the season.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, he said: “If we have any ambitions on having a successful season, we need to be ready. We have improved but the bar has been raised.
“We don’t have room for many mistakes moving forward. With the consistency of ourselves and Celtic, I don’t see much changing.
“Both teams, where we sit right now, have two hectic fixture schedules. It would be highly unlikely that both of us will be perfect until the end of the season.
“So it could be a case of who makes the least mistakes has the more successful end to the season.”
Celtic’s upcoming gauntlet
Obviously we’ll be keeping one eye on results across the city over the next few weeks as supporters, but it’s absolutely crucial that Lennon and his squad remain focused on the task at hand in our camp.
Having played a Firhill yesterday, Celtic are about to embark on a Scottish Premiership gauntlet that includes five away games from our next seven currently scheduled between now and 16th February.
Our home fixtures come against Ross County and Hearts, with road trips to Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, Hamilton and Motherwell on the cards.
It all culminates in a visit to Pittodrie against Aberdeen prior to our Copenhagen test.
Rangers, in contrast, will play the majority of their immediate matches at Ibrox.
December was a pivotal month and one we navigated with much success, apart from the derby defeat. The next month could well top that as our most important of the season, with so many games coming away from home.
Come through this period largely unscathed and we should be in great shape to lift the league title once again.
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