Just like the Scottish Cup semi-final, Celtic took the lead against the Rangers this time around as well but could not hold on to it. Fortunately, there was no extra-time or winner from Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side but one has to admit that for the second consecutive time, the side from Ibrox looked much more fitter than the Hoops despite coming off of big games in midweek.
The draw suits Celtic much more than it does the Rangers and keeps their 6-point lead at the top of the table intact. With Ange Postecoglou’s side having a significantly better goal difference as well, it looks like one win from the last three league games would be enough to crown them the champions of Scotland once again.
But at the same time, one cannot hide away from some of the problems that have cropped up in recent games. The biggest of them has the been the fact that the midfield runs out of steam in the second half.
Both Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley had to be brought off at the hour mark today. And as reported by The Scotsman, Postecoglou said about the matter:
"“Matty is 21 years old and for Reo this is his first sort of journey outside his own country and it has new challenges.“I have said all along that there is a relentlessness when you play for this football club and you can’t rest on what you did last week or even the last pass or the last action, it’s constant and it’s always there.“But you are never going to build that into players if you shield them away from it. This year my thoughts were just to expose as many of our players to it as I could.”"
Celtic need 4 more points to seal the Premiership title
Mathematically, Celtic need 4 more points to clinch the Premiership title but realistically, they need just 3 more, with their goal difference 19 higher than that of the Rangers.
You never know in football though, thus, Celtic should aim to put up as many points as they can on the board over the next three league games and leave nothing to chance.
They face a difficult task next, with Hearts visiting Parkhead. After that, there is an away trip to Dundee United before finishing the season at home against Motherwell.
While it is safe to say that there are still a lot of areas where this team can improve in, overall, this campaign has to be considered a major success. Not many fans would have expected the club to even compete for the Premiership title this season, let alone be on the verge of winning it with three games to go.