Celtic stretched their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership at the weekend by beating Hearts after Rangers dropped points against Dundee United and Aberdeen lost at St Mirren.
Now three points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, Celtic now heads into a run of fixtures that could really shape the season over the next few weeks.
If Celtic beats Club Brugge in the Champions League then a play-off place is pretty much guaranteed along with more of UEFA’s millions.
A win against Aberdeen in the league will stretch their lead at the top even further and beating Rangers in the upcoming League Cup final will secure the first piece of silverware against the under-pressure Ibrox club.
Coupled with contract extensions to James Forrest and Alistair Johnston, Celtic is in a great place and it has former Rangers striker, Kris Boyd, panicked.
Kris Boyd is seriously worried about Celtic ‘from a Rangers point of view’
Boyd told Go Ballistic, “I think when you look at Celtic you’re winning games of football. I mean Aberdeen had that challenge for a while. But you kind of got the feeling that it was just a matter of time before Celtic started to pull away.
“That’s them three clear of Aberdeen, eleven clear of Rangers. And as I said, we’re not even in December.
“It’s alarming from Rangers’ point of view. But from Celtic’s, you’ll be delighted to go to Tynecastle and score four goals.
“It was a difficult first half for them, but it was the exact same at Celtic Park a couple of weeks ago. It was a difficult first half for them, but they find a way. Celtic find a way.”
Celtic’s next six Scottish Premiership fixtures compared to Rangers
Celtic’s fixtures are coming thick and fast and with Brendan Rodgers due to go to Ibrox on the 2nd of January, there are still six fixtures for the Hoops boss to negotiate.
- Saturday 30th November: Celtic vs Ross County
- Wednesday 4th December: Aberdeen vs Celtic
- Saturday 7th December: Celtic vs Hibs
- Sunday 22nd December: Dundee United vs Celtic
- Thursday 26th December: Celtic vs Motherwell
- Sunday 29th December: Celtic vs St Johnstone
And compared to Rangers, the league challenge from the Ibrox club could be over before the big Glasgow Derby if they drop more points:
- Sunday 1st December: St Johnstone vs Rangers
- Wednesday 4th December: Rangers vs Kilmarnock
- Sunday 8th December: Ross County vs Rangers
- Saturday 21st December: Rangers vs Dundee
- Thursday 26th December: St Mirren vs Rangers
- Sunday 29th December: Motherwell vs Rangers
So it seems like Boyd has every reason to be panicked. Rangers have four away games out of six whereas Celtic play in Paradise in four out of their six fixtures.
There’s only one team out the two who looks like dropping points on any given week, and it’s not Celtic.
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