Ex-Celtic striker John Hartson has refused to write off Rangers’s chances of winning the Scottish Premiership title this season.

The Light Blues are currently trailing their Old Firm rivals by eight points but, speaking on the Go Football Show, Hartson said that, if Phillipe Clement’s side can keep winning games between and the next derby next month, it could put some pressure on Celtic:

“Rangers have a game in hand, if they win that it’s down to five. Rangers play Celtic on the 30th December, they know how big that game is at Celtic Park and you’ve just got to keep winning.

“I just think Celtic would welcome a challenge, they’ve had it particularly easy of the last 10 or 11 years apart from when they were under Gerrard. From Rangers’ point of view, they have to keep the heat on. They have to keep this pace up because Celtic have been over the course many times in recent years.”

“A lot of the Rangers players haven’t experienced that at Rangers so that is going to be key in terms of their success and trying to bring the title back. But as I see it there’s a race on and that consistency to keep winning, it puts pressure on the other team.”

Rangers need to take things one game at a time

Clement refused to speculate when he was asked earlier this month about the Gers’ chances of finishing top of the table. He emphasised that his team must go game by game, which is a very sensible approach.

Celtic are not invincible and they won’t win every match between now and May but, to keep themselves in contention, Rangers can’t afford many more slip-ups.

They have already given themselves a mountain to climb and any more dropped points would make it very difficult for them to regain lost ground in the second half of the campaign.

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