For a moment, it had looked like Celtic were going to run away with the Premiership title race this season. Of course, the Hoops’ 4-0 win over the Rangers in the first Glasgow Derby of the campaign was a statement of intent and saw them take a five-point lead. On the other hand, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side had appeared to have gotten themselves caught in a bad run of form.
They lost three games on the trot, against Celtic, Ajax and Napoli, and ended up conceding 11 unanswered goals over those three games. Thus, many of their fans even questioned whether it was time to show Van Bronckhorst the exit door.
Well, things can change very quickly in football. Celtic would go on to lose 2-0 vs St Mirren in a shock result, which has allowed the Rangers to cut the gap down to two points and it has certainly put a pep back in their step.
Club captain James Tavernier is pretty certain that his side are still well in the title race with the gap just being two points. As reported by the Daily Record, he told Rangers TV:
"“Obviously the first block of games, we were disappointed with the Hibs game and losing the men and taking a point there. The performance at Parkhead, we didn’t like that performance at all that we put in.“But we are only two points in it in the league so there are a lot of games to play, it is still early in the season. The boys are raring to go to get it kicked off again.“The Champions League, we wanted more out of the Ajax game, we wanted to implement our style of play, which we didn’t do. I thought we did that against Napoli and for 60 minutes we played really well.“Then you go to ten men and it can be a struggle. We conceded three penalties, Greegsy [Allan McGregor] has done wonders to save two out, but that is football at the end of the day.“We are relishing the task in hand and the games in hand. We are not far away.“It is only two points and we have only played the first block of the season. There are plenty of games to play so it is down to us to keep our standards and the levels of consistency going through the games to create a real good momentum heading into the games.”"
Tavernier sends ‘only two points’ warning to Celtic
To be honest, yes, the title race is back on and Celtic only have themselves to blame for that happening.
The 2-0 defeat at the hands of St Mirren has opened things up completely and what was even more concerning for many Celtic fans was the performance on that day. The club will be hoping that it was just a one-off display.
Now, Celtic have a number injury concerns coming out of the international break as well, with question marks over the fitness of Giorgos Giakoumakis, Daizen Maeda and Sead Haksabanovic.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have to make sure that there are no more slip ups like the one against St Mirren anytime soon.