Celtic will hope to call on their bouncebackability against St Mirren tomorrow following a resounding defeat against Rangers in midweek.
Despite the opportunity to move further ahead of their rivals, the Bhoys failed to turn up at Ibrox as a dismal showing cut their gap at the top to 11 points.
Perspective is needed when rationalising Celtic’s defeat to Rangers. Brendan Rodgers’ men still sit pretty in the Scottish Premiership, and their first domestic loss shouldn’t signal mass panic among supporters.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  CelticCeltic | 19 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 52 | 7 | 45 | 50 |
| 2 |  RangersRangers | 19 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 34 | 13 | 21 | 39 |
| 3 |  Dundee UtdDundee Utd | 20 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 30 | 21 | 9 | 34 |
| 4 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 32 | 28 | 4 | 34 |
Wallowing isn’t an option for the reigning champions as they prepare to take on St Mirren in their first home assignment of 2025 at Parkhead.
Reflecting on his own experiences, Chris Sutton has offered some words of wisdom for his old side as they look to get back to winning ways.
Chris Sutton backs Celtic to overcome derby disappointment
Writing in his column for The Daily Record, Sutton has suggested that Celtic will be able to recover from their blip in midweek and believes they could go on to record a domestic treble come May.
He explained: “I’ve been there. Our Celtic team got battered 5-1 at Ibrox remember. What happened that year again? Oh yes, we went on to win the Treble.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the outcome again this time. Having been involved in a fair few of these games, results like the other day can happen.
“Sometimes it defies explanation. It can be a collective off day, a red card, a dodge decision, you name it, anything can happen and it just tips the momentum and games can get away from you. It’s the reaction that matters. Thursday was Celtic’s worst performance since Borussia Dortmund and the response to that defeat was emphatic.
“They have back to back home games against St Mirren and Dundee United in the next week to get back to it and underline their authority in the title race. Rangers go to Hibs and who knows what could happen there. Nothing would shock you with Clement’s team, who seem to be capable of raising their game against the likes of Spurs and Celtic, but come a cropper elsewhere.
“Their wild form actually just highlights how impressive Celtic have been over a long period of time. Trust me, some people take it for granted, but it’s hard to win week in, week out.”
Celtic were always going to have to overcome adversity
Despite Celtic’s success enabling them to be held to a standard of consistency different from that of the rest of Scottish football, it would be naive to imagine that they wouldn’t have to face any adversity at some point in the campaign.
What does matter is they recover from the setback in midweek, which was frustrating, but by no means detrimental to their season and what they could achieve under Rodgers.
St Mirren and Dundee United travel to face Celtic in the next few days. Hopefully, six points from those two matches can replenish the feelgood factor.
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