All eyes will be on Ibrox for the Old Firm derby on Sunday and it should prove to be the game of the season. Sevco have won four on the bounce to cut the deficit at the top of the Premiership to just six points, so they are surging with confidence right now. They can also take heart from their hard-earned 0-0 draw the last time these teams met. It feels like Scotland could be on the brink of returning from a Celtic monopoly to a traditional duopoly once again, but the stark reality is that the Hoops are a vastly superior team and should wipe the floor with the Ibrox side if they play to their full potential.
Sevco’s promotion to the top flight coincided with Brendan Rodgers’ arrival as Hoops boss in the summer of 2016. Since then they have met eight times and Celtic have secured six wins and two draws, while they are yet to taste defeat. The last time Celtic lost a Glasgow derby was back in 2012 against the pre-liquidation Rangers; Celtic had both Victor Wanyama and Du-Ri Cha sent off in the first half. The infrastructure at Celtic Park is better, the finances are in better order and they have a more impressive group of youngsters.
But the main point is that Celtic’s current first team vastly eclipses Sevco’s. The Hoops secured an unbeaten treble last year, and while they will not quite hit those heights this time around, they should land another treble with relative ease. They have only lost twice in the league all season, compared to seven defeats for Graeme Murty’s men. The Ibrox side have improved on last season’s dismal effort, but they are still a long way away from emerging as a genuine challenger to Celtic’s throne.
The best-reviewed betting sites are offering even money on a Celtic win, and that looks hugely tempting. The chance to double your money by backing a team that has been so dominant in recent years will surely appeal to many. There is a lot of hype around Sevco at present, and Clint Hill reckons the Ibrox side can challenge for the Premiership title if they beat Celtic on Sunday. “They will go into this game full of confidence, at home, with the crowd behind them,” said the former Ibrox defender. “If they get a win then they seriously are title contenders. “They have to be judged that way.”
Of course he is right, as it would cut Celtic’s lead to three points and land a huge psychological blow. But that is a huge if. Moussa Dembele is back among the goals, Scott Sinclair continues to show why many consider him to be the best player in the country and several others have impressed. The Ibrox side simply do not have this level of quality to call upon. Celtic have more big game experience, a greater winning mentality and they are simply more technically astute in every department.
“It will be a tough game for us at Ibrox, of course, but we’ll get ready,” said Rodgers. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ll need to perform better and more consistently in that game, but we’ve gone there three times before and performed very well. There’s huge pressure on Rangers in the game but we’ll have a good working week and go into that game and work as well as we can.” The manager is right to point to Celtic’s strong recent record at Ibrox, and this should give them a crucial advantage heading into the game. By the end of Sunday, everyone really should be talking about the title race as being one-horsed.
