CELTIC have not only dominated Scottish football but the Celtic v Rangers fixture.

They have won six of the last seven and the only time Rangers have taken anything was when Graeme Murty was interim manager back in March. In fact, that 1-1 draw turned out to be his last game before Pedro Caixinha came in.

He took a team to Celtic Park who got a point and put in a brilliant performance. If Graeme has any aspirations of staying as the Rangers manager beyond the summer then winning in the east end of Glasgow tomorrow would go a long way into securing his place.

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There has been such a dearth of plus points against Celtic for Rangers fans in recent years during a period of sustained domination from their rivals. If he was to pull off another result then it would build his case. We have already seen what a landmark game can do. On the back of that 1-1 draw a lot of goodwill was built up to put him back in the hot seat this time around, while beating Aberdeen twice may well have been the clincher for the Ibrox board to leave him in charge until the end of the season.

Any Rangers manager is normally judged on beating Celtic, or in the current climate moving closer towards them. Going forward, they need to get the appointment of the manager after the summer right because the whole focus will be stopping Celtic hitting 10-in-a-row. They don’t look anywhere near it just now, they are a million miles behind. The aim for the board must be to get someone to stop that happening. Graeme Murty could certainly put himself on the map if he could pull off a draw or even better at Celtic Park with this group of players.

Celtic will win the league, that much is clear. They are still a dominant force. But for the Rangers supporters who have had virtually nothing to cheer about over the last couple of years, a win, particularly right now, it would give them that wee bit of hope.

Having said that, I just can’t see it happening. Earlier this month Celtic were well beaten at Tynecastle but since then their reaction has been incredible. They’ve had three games, they’ve had three wins, they’ve had three clean sheets. It just proves you are allowed one bad day.

While they were getting back to winning ways, I watched Rangers down at Kilmarnock and they were woeful. In midweek they were improved but still way short of what would be required to beat Celtic. At Rugby Park they were outnumbered in the middle of the park and Kilmarnock dominated them.

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Recently Murty has been wanting two up front – he played Eduardo Herrera and Alfredo Morelos against Motherwell – but if he goes to Celtic Park and tries to play with that and a diamond in the middle of the park then they’ll get crucified. If Kilmarnock can do it then so will Celtic.

The plus point for the Rangers supporters who now look like being without Ryan Jack is that at least Morelos is hitting form. He’s now scored four in his last five. However, in my eyes they lack leadership and experience, and with Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller already out – both of them started at Parkhead in March – I just don’t see where the experience of this fixture will come from in the ranks to help get them through.

Murty has to sacrifice a striker and go with one up front to try and stifle Celtic. That may go against what has caused Celtic the most problems this year when you look at Hibs and perhaps Heart ruffling their feathers but I’m not sure Rangers have the players to go and do that. It’s also about being able to maintain it on a pitch that size. It’s a big decision for Murty whether to copy that model or try to contain.

It’s so far removed from whenever I played. Back then there was never any thought of doing anything other than simply going for it. Yes there were tactics within the game but there wasn’t a suggestion we’d sit in. The teams I played in were a lot stronger, though, and you need to know your limitations. You’d be worried if you were a Rangers fan if this side tried to go toe-to-toe with Celtic. There will be a natural urge given the emotions and atmosphere to go for it and take the game to the hosts, so it would need to be a performance dripping in discipline and dedication for Rangers to come out with anything.

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To illustrate the gulf, only two days ago we saw the gulf in finances between Celtic and Rangers with the sale of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton to Liverpool for £75million, a fee that will see around £7.5m of it make its way to Celtic Park. Rangers’ recruitment has been poor and haven’t bought and developed players to sell on. The likes of Joe Garner, Martyn Waghorn and Barrie McKay have all been sold for amounts that don’t even add up to Van Dijk’s sell-on.

The model for Celtic has paid off. If you think there’s a gap in quality on the pitch, off of it the gulf is potentially even greater as ambiguity continues to surround how much money there is to spend on this Rangers squad in January.

Regardless of all that, this is still a fixture like no other. Celtic’s players who know what it takes to get the job done in this fixture could be pivotal, and if Rangers are not at it then we could be looking at another heavy win for Brendan Rodgers’ side.