The festive fixture schedule is traditionally a busy one for all Scottish clubs but for Celtic, the big games just keep coming.
After Celtic beat Rangers in the League Cup final on the 15th of December, the Parkhead club’s fixtures list meant that Brendan Rodgers had to negotiate four Scottish Premiership fixtures in twelve days including another Glasgow Derby at Ibrox.
So far, Celtic have drawn against Dundee United at Tannadice and the Bhoys have beaten Motherwell with St Johnstone up next for the Parkhead club.
However, over on the other side of the city, Rangers seem to be in crisis after being beaten by St Mirren to fall 12 points behind Celtic less than a week before the big derby.
And it’s a result that has sparked Kris Boyd to make a Celtic prediction that will delight the Parkhead support but also strike fear into the Rangers fans.
Kris Boyd has a ‘feeling’ about the gap between Celtic and Rangers
Boyd told Go Ballistic [20m 25s], “They were comfortable winners, I would expect the same again on Sunday.
“Brendan Rodgers will just be hoping that he can get Alistair Johnston back for the weekend that will give him some minutes ahead of the Old F*rm game next week.
“But you kind of get the feeling that Celtic, there’s only one thing going to happen, that they’re going to widen the gap from them to Rangers in second because of the strength and depth they’ve got.
“And I think as well, Brendan Rodgers, in terms of retaining the squad at the right time, but also, the little tweaks he makes during the game as well to make sure that his team gets over the line or finds that way to break the opposition down, albeit it didn’t happen with Tannadice.
“But, you know, Celtic are in a very good place right now.”
Where Celtic could sit in the Scottish Premiership if they beat Rangers at Ibrox
At the moment Celtic sit 12 points ahead of Rangers in the Scottish Premiership table with one game still to play before the big New Year Glasgow Derby.
If both teams win their games tomorrow and Celtic beat Rangers on the 2nd of January then a massive 15-point lead would open up that would be insurmountable for the Ibrox club.
But it could get worse. If Rangers fail to collect all three points at Motherwell on Sunday and Celtic beat St Johnstone at Parkhead, the potential of an 18-point gap opening up at the turn of the New Year would be quite astonishing.
This would put Brendan Rodgers on the cusp of a third treble as the Celtic boss and that is something even he wouldn’t have dared to dream about when he returned to the club last summer.
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