When the 2022/23 season began, it was anticipated to be another tight title race between Celtic and the Rangers. However, the points table currently paints a different picture, with the Ibrox side trailing the league leaders by nine points after 18 league games have been played.
While the Hoops have matched the expectations and kept their consistency throughout the campaign so far, having won 17 of the 18 games, the Rangers have met with several setbacks along the way.
So much so that the Rangers ended up showing Giovanni van Bronckhorst the exit door in November, although he had led the club to Scottish Cup triumph and the UEFA Europa League final just last season.
He has been replaced with Michael Beale, who has a mountain to climb in front of him. The start has been good results-wise, having won all three games in charge till now, but the performances have left quite a bit to be desired and it remains to be seen if the new manager can reduce the gap between the Rangers and Celtic.
John Lundstram makes major Celtic claim with Rangers sitting nine points behind the Premiership leaders
It seems that the Rangers are not focusing on the points gap with Celtic at this point of time. As reported by the Scottish Daily Express, Lundstram said:
"“You don’t think about that when you cross the white line, of course you don’t. Obviously we are nine points behind and we want to try and reduce that deficit as much as we can.“We go out to win every game and if that gets us closer to reducing the nine point deficit then that is great. But we are just concentrating on ourselves at the minute, trying to implement the gaffer’s style and getting better, that is really all we are trying to do. If that comes with reducing the deficit then great.”"
Celtic take on the Rangers on January 2 in a game that could have major implications on the Premiership title race. Since their defeat to St Mirren, the Hoops have not dropped even a single point in the league.
But before thinking about the upcoming Glasgow Derby, they have a game against Hibernian to play. Celtic’s recent 4-1 win against St Johnstone was decent but overall, their performances in recent times have been a bit shaky and hopefully, they will improve moving forward, as they head towards the big game.