With less than two days to go until Celtic head to Ibrox to face Rangers in the Glasgow Derby, the fans of both teams will be looking ahead to the game with two very different mindsets.
The Celtic fans know that even if Rangers find a way to win on Thursday, there is still a healthy gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership table that looks like near-on impossible to overcome.
On the other hand, if Celtic come out on top in the Glasgow Derby again then a 17-point gap opens up at and the pressure on Philippe Clement will build even more.
Celtic’s recent record over Rangers landed Philippe Clement the unwanted record as the manager with the longest winless streak over the Parkhead club since World War I.
Another defeat is certainly unthinkable for the Ibrox support but the next game doesn’t look good as Kris Boyd delivers a grim dose of reality for the Rangers fans ahead of the big kick-off against Celtic.
Kris Boyd says Celtic always find a way to come ‘out on top’ vs Rangers
Boyd was asked if there was any Rangers team Philippe Clement could pick to trouble Celtic on Thursday and the answer is not good for the blue half of Glasgow.
Boyd told Go Ballistic [9m 20s], “I think when you look at Rangers against Celtic in recent times if you take the Scottish Cup Final you take the League Cup Final, they’ve caused Celtic problems but, ultimately, Celtic came out on top.
“Celtic find a way to win games of football. You go back to the must-win, shall we say, the 3-3 at Ibrox, Rangers, they find a to get back into the game and they don’t get beat at home, but it was a must-win for Rangers that day and Celtic found a way not to get beat.”
Kris Boyd reckons Rangers ‘can throw everything’ at Celtic and it ‘still won’t be enough’
“So Brendan Rodgers and Celtic have the upper hand in this fixture in recent times,” continued Boyd, “And Rangers are going to have to find a way, a formula, to come up to cause Celtic problems.
“Because you look at Celtic, and you can only judge it on the cup final there, I felt as if Rangers threw everything they possibly could at Celtic, Celtic were below par and you can go about refereeing decisions and make excuses for that but if you take the game of football, I think Rangers threw everything at Celtic and came up short again.
“You’re probably going into this game saying that you need Celtic to have an off-day and Rangers to play at the maximum and that might still not be enough.”
Brendan Rodgers’ record over Rangers has been excellent. In 20 fixtures as the Celtic boss, the Northern Irishman has lost just once.
Over two periods as the Celtic manager, Rodgers has saw his team score 51 goals against Rangers whilst conceding just 19 as he averages 2.55 points per game against the Ibrox club.
Will Rodgers take a win at Ibrox for granted on Thursday afternoon? Absolutely not but the Celtic gaffer will take comfort and confidence in his previous record against Rangers and the huge gap he has at the top of the league to allow his team to play with freedom and without fear.
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