THE Ladbrokes Premiership title may have been sewn up by Celtic weeks ago and nothing more than their undefeated domestic record may be at stake heading into their sixth and final meeting of the season with Rangers tomorrow.

Yet, that did not prevent Brendan Rodgers from aiming what could easily, if you were of a cynical nature, have been construed as a subtle dig in the direction of his side’s traditional rivals ahead of the league match at Ibrox.

It has been suggested there is widespread unrest in the Rangers first team squad as the Glasgow derby approaches due to their new manager Pedro Caixinha suddenly deciding to cut short their summer holiday to just nine days.

Read more: Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers will have "most influential player in Scotland" Scott Brown available against RangersThe Herald: Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers chats to, from left to right, Dedryck Boyata, Kouassi Eboue and Kolo Toure at training at Lennoxtown yesterday.

Caixinha vehemently dismissed that claim yesterday and stressed that no final decision on the length of break his players will receive between their final Premiership game next month and their first Europa League qualifier at the end of June has been made.

But Rodgers claimed he could never envisage his men, despite the demands on them to play domestic, European and international football, protesting about the time off they receive. In fact, he revealed they had actually declined to take a break from training and playing.

“This season I’ve said to one or two players at times ‘listen I want to give you that period of break’ and they didn’t want it,” he said. “They wanted to work, to still be here. I suppose the environment we’ve fostered here, the spirit’s good, they want to be in here, they want to pre-pare themselves, and that’s quite unique really.”

The Irishman also, amid speculation that the wedding plans of two Rangers players had been thrown into disarray by the sudden change to their close season, stressed that ensuring players and their families were content off the park was vital to the harmony of a squad.

“Keeping them and their families happy is key,” he said. “You can’t forget that element. It’s a huge element, the human needs of people. It’s all part of management. It’s all part of how you work. Psychologically it’s critical you get players in the right moment.”

Rodgers has admitted that the scheduling of the Scotland game against England at Hampden on June 10 – a Russia 2018 qualifier that Celtic players Stuart Armstrong, Scott Brown, James Forrest, Craig Gordon, Leigh Griffiths, Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney could all be involved in – is a concern for him.

His side will get their bid to qualify for the lucrative group stages of the Champions League for a second time underway little more than a month later when the first leg of the second qualifying round is played.

However, the 44-year-old, whose side has won four and drawn one of the five Old Firm matches they have played this term, intends to rest his key players following this afternoon’s game to ensure they are in peak condition for the Scottish Cup final next month.

He is hopeful that will ensure that individuals like Armstrong, Brown, Forrest, Gordon, Mikael Lustig and Scott Sinclair are fully recuperated when they return to competitive action in the new season.

“It will be each individual club’s plan, but, for us we periodize the full season,” he said. “You have to look at each individual and make sure there is a plan, so we’ve created that quite a while ago. So the players know where they are at in terms of their recovery and rest. That’s vital. I’ve got to say this is a group with no ego.

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“We periodize the whole season so we know when the rest is needed and required. That allows us to get the players at a good level. We know what our objective is for pre-season – qualify for the Champions League and gain our football fitness. Each player will be organised accordingly.

"I can only talk about my own players. They deserve a rest. They’ve been incredible and once the season finishes some of them will have some days before they meet up for internationals. Then we are back in on the 19th with some back on the 22nd. How our work’s periodized they will be ready and flying for pre-season.”

Rodgers denied this game was meaningless for his Celtic team given they have already won the Scottish title for the sixth season running and expressed hope his side would perform to the same high level as they had against Rangers last Sunday.

“You can’t say you have made the Scottish Cup final with a great performance and now this doesn’t matter,” he said. “Every game matters and in particular a Celtic v Rangers game.

“But also I prefer the players to have pressure because if you want to succeed and want to be winning things and be at the very highest level you can be in your performance you have to feel the pressure.

“What is important is how you cope with it. Our players, through the habits we are creating, through education, through training, are getting better and they bring these confident habits into games. In this type of game you have to deal with pressure, but it is always there.”

Caixinha was distressed at the respect which his Rangers players, who are bidding to finish third or fourth in the top flight and qualify for Europe for the first time in six years, showed Celtic at the weekend and is hoping they are far more combative this time around. Rodgers, though, questioned whether they would be able to close his side down.

“They haven’t really been a high pressure team,” he said. “If they feel the need to press and disrupt our organisation, it can also be dangerous because behind that there leaves a big space. You saw with our second goal on Sunday. If you leave space then we have speed to break into it.

“I am sure their supporters will demand that they be better, they will want to be better, but we want to be better. We want to improve, to be better than what we were in our performance level but they are always great games.”