James Forrest warns Celtic teammates ahead of Rangers clash

James Forrest has sent a warning to his Celtic teammates heading into Sunday’s clash against Rangers at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership.

Celtic might be 5 points ahead of Rangers in the Premiership right now but they will go into Sunday’s game knowing that a loss could result in them losing their top spot in the table as Steven Gerrard’s men have a game in hand at this point of time. On the other hand, a loss could very well spell the end of Rangers’ title hopes. Thus, there will be no scope for slip ups when the two sides meet at Parkhead.

Neil Lennon’s men have managed to win both the derbies this season despite neither of them being played at Celtic Park. The first was a comfortable cruise at Ibrox as they beat Rangers 2-0 in their own backyard. The second was a much tougher contest with the Hoops managing to lift the League Cup despite putting in one of their worst team performances of the season.

And while Celtic did walk out with the trophy, a lot of questions were raised about their display. Steven Gerrard’s created most of the chances but failed to score because of their wasteful finishing and an inspired Fraser Forster standing firm as a wall in front of goal. Ultimately, Christopher Jullien scored the winner from the Hoops’ only shot on target during the game.

But James Forrest has warned his teammates that none of that would matter when the two sides meet at Parkhead on Sunday. As reported by the Daily Mail, the Celtic veteran said:

"“After the cup final everyone was buzzing and felt really good about ourselves.“When we play well and win, it is obviously good but sometimes you have an off day but still win, you have that winning mentality, you find ways to win. That is really good that we have that side to the game as well.“If you play in a cup final you would rather play well and win but at the end of the day when you manage to get over the line and win, that’s all that matters.“But apart from the cup final, I don’t think that will mean much. This is a different game. We are at home. It is going to be a difficult game but we are looking forward to it.“They are always games you look forward to, obviously the fans and players look forward to it, the atmosphere is going to be unbelievable. Just hopefully we can give our fans something to shout about. We are going to have to play at our best to get three points.”"

The Hoops have a lot of reasons to be confident though heading into Sunday’s game. They have won 11 straight games in the Premiership and have not lost at home domestically all season. On the other hand, all the pressure will be on Steven Gerrard’s men as a loss would see them fall 8 points behind their Glasgow rivals in the title race.