Neil Lennon uses 2019 example to prove form does go out window in Celtic vs Rangers cup finals

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The old cliché of ‘form going out the window’ on Glasgow derby day may have been debunked by Celtic’s dominance in recent years.

The Hoops have shut Rangers down in the vast majority of clashes between the two and they will be desperate to do so again on Sunday when the two clubs square off in the Premier Sports Cup Final.

Right now Brendan Rodgers’ troops are sitting pretty at the top of the Scottish Premiership compared to their rivals as they hold an 11 point lead with Gers in third spot behind Aberdeen.

But Neil Lennon has warned his old club not to allow themselves to become complacent just based on the stats and the form book of both clubs.

• READ MORE: Peter Grant says ‘I wouldn’t like to play against’ Celtic star who could get a rare start v Rangers

That is because Lennon has been on the receiving end of defeats to the Light Blues in recent years as manager of Celtic despite all stats and analytics pointing towards what should have been wins for the Northern Irishman.

Lennon knows firsthand – both from his time as boss and as a player at Parkhead – that players raise their games for this fixture and it seems to be whichever side has their star men performing better is the team who will come out on top.

Captain Callum McGregor said the same this week as he vowed that he and his teammates’ focus would be shifted directly onto Rangers.

The ex-gaffer pointed, in particular, to the League Cup Final in 2019 at Hampden where his side had performed brilliantly in the build-up.

Neil Lennon says form does go out the window and he backed up his opinion

And even though Celts won the trophy after a backs to the wall performance – one Rangers dominated – it was a sign that no team should take a win for granted in the derby.

“I can only, from my own experience in 2019, we’d beaten Lazio home and away, had beaten Hibs five in the semi-final, we were going great going into the final, and Rangers played out their skin and battered us,” Lennon told the Warm Up.

“We rode our luck, Fraser Forster saved a penalty, then we go and score. We played better with 10 men than we did with 11.

“It was really hard to put your finger on because nothing had changed in terms of preparation. It is for me, still, all on the day.

“The cup final in May could’ve went either way but the mentality of Celtic just strength in depth got them over the line.”

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Lennon also pointed out another moment from his career where Celtic lost 3-2 in the Scottish Cup Final to Rangers in 2002 despite winning the league trophy at a canter that year.

“In 2002 we lost the cup final to Rangers at the end of the season… but we’d won the league by 18 points!” he added.

“But when you loss the cup final you felt like, ‘Did we win the league or not?’. You get criticised, ‘Didn’t turn up’ and all that sort of stuff.

“So it’s not real, but it’s real in Glasgow.”

One man hoping to see form going out the window is Rangers hero Kris Boyd who sounded nervous in his preview of the final.

Celtic and Rangers are now both locked on 118 trophies each throughout their history and Sunday’s final will take one side narrowly ahead.