RAMPANT RANGERS moved five points clear of Celtic at the top of the Premiership table with a 5-0 thrashing of Hearts at Ibrox.

Midfielder Mohamed Diomande put the home side ahead after little over a minute, then wide-man Oscar Cortes increased the lead after 37 minutes with his first goal as a Light Blues player, before striker Cyriel Dessers added a third and fourth shortly before and after the break.

Philippe Clement’s team kept pushing, and substitute Fabio Silva netted a fifth just after the hour mark. Rangers’ largest home win of the season puts pressure on Celtic, who face Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday with minimal margin for error.

The Ibrox side, who were drawn against Benfica in the Europa League last-16 on Friday, were full of confidence after winning their previous nine games.

However, Todd Cantwell was out due to injury, and Tom Lawrence was one of four changes, along with Ridvan Yilmaz, Dujon Sterling, and Dessers. Kemar Roofe returned to the bench after two months away and would make a late appearance.

Despite three defeats to the Govan side this season, Hearts had reason to feel they could pull off an upset.

Steven Naismith’s team was unbeaten in 12 matches in all competitions, while skipper Lawrence Shankland led the league goalscoring charts with 18 goals in 26 games for club and nation this season.

However, the Tynecastle team, which had Nathaniel Atkinson, Jorge Grant, and Kenneth Vargas back in the lineup, was surprised by the early goal.

Hearts were in good condition when 20-year-old Cortes ran in from the left and set up Diomande, but he sized up the effort from 20 yards and hammered it low past Gorgie keeper Zander Clark for his second Rangers goal, following his first at St Johnstone last week.

The football game was frenetic.

Dessers’ lung-bursting run resulted in a shot saved by Clark, who then made an even greater stop on skipper James Tavernier’s thunderous drive moments later.

Dessers should have scored in the 18th minute after Clark parried Yilmaz’s long-range drive, but the Jambos goalkeeper stopped his header and then his shot, despite the offside flag being up.

The Gers striker then headed a Yilmaz cross past the post, leaving only Clark to beat.

Hearts conceded a second goal as Lawrence took a Sterling pass and raced forward before squaring for Cortes, who curled the ball low past the diving Clark, who was soon picking the ball out of his net again when Dessers side-footed a John Souttar cross past him.

The Jambos defence failed to deal with Sterling’s cross into the box early in the second half, and Dessers fired the ball in from close range, surviving a VAR review for handball.

Silva and Ross McCausland replaced Lawrence and Sterling before Tavernier’s cut-back across the six-yard box eluded the sliding Dessers.

However, there was no respite for the visitors.

In the 65th minute, midfielder John Lundstram passed Silva in, and his angled shot beat Clark and found the far corner.

The disturbed Gorgie side persisted.

A Shankland header beat Gers keeper Jack Butland, but the ball rebounded against the post and Rangers escaped, with Butland making good saves on Grant’s 25-yard free kick and replacement Kyosuke Tagawa’s looping drive.

However, the home side kept another clean sheet, and they will travel to Kilmarnock on Wednesday with renewed title hopes.