Premiership fixture scheduling could see Celtic clear by the New Year

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Whisper is quietly, but Celtic could be well clear at the top of the Premiership by the time the league halts for the winter break.

Neil Lennon’s men face a frantic December with no fewer than nine games on the schedule. The vast majority of those will be league clashes – seven in total – while there is also a Europa League trip to Cluj and a Betfred Cup final against Rangers.

Our title rivals only play six league games during the month due to the fixture quirk of a Friday night clash at Hibernian. While many have looked at the negative consequences of the SPFL giving us an extra game in an already hectic month, the positive is that we could get another three points on the board.

Added to this, Rangers still have to come to Parkhead on December 29th. That means that we will be a minimum of six points clear going into the break if we win our next eight league matches.

Premiership fixture joy doesn’t stop there for Celtic

Five of those eight matches are at home, with the away matches at Ross County, Hearts and St. Mirren. In comparison, Rangers have five of their next seven league matches on the road – a run that includes trips to Aberdeen, Motherwell, Hibernian and ourselves.

Given that they’ll also have two big Europa League fixtures in that timeline, you would expect them to struggle in a number of those matches.

If they do drop points in just one of those tricky fixtures, and we keep winning, we could actually be 8 or 9 points clear going into the break. Some title race eh?

The situation is the reversal of last season when Steven Gerrard’s side were clinging onto our coat tails due to having played a game more. They went into the break level on points with us after their derby victory – but they soon fell away in the following months.

If we can win our upcoming eight league clashes we will be well clear at the top of the table heading into 2020. Given that we’re showing little signs of dropping points, that would be a massive advantage to hold.