Celtic extended their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership by defeating Hearts over the weekend, while Rangers dropped points against Dundee United and Aberdeen lost at St Mirren.
Celtic now leads the Scottish Premiership table by three points, with upcoming matchups that might significantly impact the season.
If Celtic defeats Club Brugge in the Champions League, they will almost certainly qualify for the play-offs and get additional UEFA funding.
A win over Aberdeen in the league will extend their lead at the top even further, and defeating Rangers in the upcoming League Cup final will secure their first trophy over the under-pressure Ibrox club.
Celtic’s recent contract extensions for James Forrest and Alistair Johnston have caused concern among former Rangers striker Kris Boyd.
Kris Boyd is extremely concerned about Celtic ‘from a Rangers point of view’
Boyd told Go Ballistic that Celtic are winning football games. I mean, Aberdeen faced that difficulty for a while. But it felt like it was only a matter of time before Celtic began to pull away.
“That puts them three points clear of Aberdeen and eleven ahead of Rangers. And, as I mentioned, it’s not even December yet.
“It’s concerning from the Rangers’ perspective. But from Celtic, you’ll be overjoyed to go to Tynecastle and score four goals.
“They had a difficult first half, similar to their performance at Celtic Park a few weeks back. They had a difficult first half, but they managed to get through it. Celtics find a way.”
Celtic’s next six Scottish Premiership fixtures compared to Rangers
Celtic’s fixtures are rapidly approaching, and with Brendan Rodgers’ arrival at Ibrox on January 2nd, he still has six games to manage.
- Saturday 30th November: Celtic vs Ross County
- Wednesday 4th December: Aberdeen vs Celtic
- Saturday 7th December: Celtic vs Hibs
- Sunday 22nd December: Dundee United vs Celtic
- Thursday 26th December: Celtic vs Motherwell
- Sunday 29th December: Celtic vs St Johnstone
And compared to Rangers, the league challenge from the Ibrox club could be over before the big Glasgow Derby if they drop more points:
- Sunday 1st December: St Johnstone vs Rangers
- Wednesday 4th December: Rangers vs Kilmarnock
- Sunday 8th December: Ross County vs Rangers
- Saturday 21st December: Rangers vs Dundee
- Thursday 26th December: St Mirren vs Rangers
- Sunday 29th December: Motherwell vs Rangers
So it appears that Boyd has every reason to be worried. Rangers have four away games out of six, while Celtic play four of their six at Paradise.
There is only one team out of the two that appears to be shedding points on any given week, and it is not Celtic.
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