There was a limited Scottish Premiership card on Saturday due to complications resulting from Storm Babet, but Celtic’s league lead was reduced to four points with a game in hand.
Both St Mirren and Rangers had been due to play today in an effort to close the gap to the Bhoys, but the Buddies’ trip to Ross County was postponed, leaving the Ibrox side as the only team who could do so.
Philippe Clement’s side won 4-0 at home to Hibernian, kicking off their new managerial era after a calamitous spell under Michael Beale. Now, it’s up to Celtic to show that Rangers will be kept at arm’s length even if they show improvement in the league.
A confident victory at Tynecastle against Hearts would be just the ticket for the Bhoys to quieten any hype emerging from across the city, a noise which now seems inevitable.
While a lot of that bluster should be sensibly avoided, Celtic must be prepared for a potential resurgence. Beale had them in an awful state and they are unlikely to be as bad as that moving forward unless they’ve made another big recruitment error.
Relentless Celtic won’t be complacent
A seven-point advantage going into this weekend was never something that would breed complacency in the Celtic camp. They know better than anyone that there is a long, long way to go this season before anything is won.
However, the reality is that Rangers are banking on a run of poor Bhoys form to get themselves back into a competitive position.
Going to a traditionally difficult venue on Sunday and picking up a win with little away support would be the perfect statement win that this won’t be happening any time soon, regardless of what is happening elsewhere.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has a fit, strong squad to choose from that is improving all the time. That the Bhoys are undefeated in the league so far this term is impressive, but it must be a starting point for even better performances as the season progresses.
This is a tricky period of fixtures for the team but it’s one which should be relished. If things go our way it will only reaffirm that the reigning champions are going to be very, very hard to catch.
In other news, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers keen to make rotation point after more Liam Scales praise.
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