KENNY MILLER, the Rangers striker, thinks the Ibrox club are “more than good enough” to win the Ladbrokes Premiership this season. The newly-promoted side begin their campaign at home to Hamilton Academical on Saturday and Miller believes their squad is more than a match for champions Celtic who begin their quest for a sixth successive championship away to Hearts on Sunday.
Rangers concluded their summer fixtures with a 3-1 friendly defeat at home to Burnley on Saturday but Miller believes the victory over Motherwell in the Betfred Cup last month – as well as wins over other top-flight opposition last season - prove they are ready to make an immediate challenge to Celtic’s supremacy at the top of the division.
“For me there’s only one aim and that’s to win the league,” said the veteran forward. "I don’t think anyone has shirked away from that fact. I feel we have a squad capable of it. There's no doubt we've shown in the one-off games against Premiership opposition last season that we are more than good enough.
"Plus we have beaten a top six team already in the cup [Motherwell]. I felt we weren't up to speed the first 10-15 minutes of that game but after that we were the dominant team and the chances we created in the second half were incredible. We could have scored even more. So we've beaten a top six team already this year and there's no doubt we are ready and prepared for the season ahead.”
Few teams have won promotion from the second tier and then challenged for the title in their first season in the top flight but Miller doesn’t think it is beyond this current crop of Rangers players.
“I’m confident we can bridge that gap. We can look at the games we had last year against higher level opposition and there’s no doubt we’re now in a stronger place with a stronger squad that we had then. So the competition for places is going to be great which can only be healthy for the club going forward.
“There’s no doubt Celtic have got a far bigger squad than us. But we’re happy with the players we’ve got within our squad at the moment. We’re more than capable of going and challenging them this year. I’m as excited as I’ve been before previous Premier League seasons, perhaps even more. It’s a new challenge for us, a big challenge.
"We’ve come through the lower leagues and it’s taken us four years to get back to the top. Anyone who isn’t looking forward to it shouldn’t be here. The demands are the same as before, the expectations are the same and it will only get greater the further you progress through the season to what will hopefully be a title come the end of it.”
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