I STILL feel Celtic, realistically, will win the league, but just for Aberdeen to have sustained a title race to this stage of the season is incredible.

Fully 31 points separated these two sides in the league last year, and I have been saying all season that if they could cut that to 15 this time around that would represent a really good campaign. They have already surpassed my expectations. It has been a huge achievement for Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty to keep Celtic under such consistent pressure for so long.

The Dons beat Celtic at Parkhead in the Scottish Cup last season, so in one-off games even when they weren't as competitive as they are now, they have already proven they can go to Glasgow and win. It is a bit different now though, a whole new ball game when you are going there challenging for the league. Tell you what, if they could beat them today, it really would be game on for the rest of the season.

Ronny Deila said that Aberdeen have to win the match but I don't think so. I think they would take a draw but they can't afford to lose it. You never know what pressure can do. Celtic are the bigger club, with the best players, and the biggest squad, and all Aberdeen can do is put them under pressure. Having gone 13 league matches unbeaten since losing to Celtic at Pittodrie in November, I don't see Aberdeen slipping up too often until the end of the season.

McInnes is trying to make it as short a league as possible, essentially a five-match sprint after the split. And he couldn't have better timing, with Celtic coming off that hard European game away to Inter on Thursday night.

You could say Celtic would probably want a game like this, one where the adrenaline is going to be pumping and one where they know they can't slack off, but I feel that match on Thursday night can only help Aberdeen. There is no doubt Celtic will have used up energy playing a hard game in Europe, with ten men for a huge chunk of the game, having to put in a really big performance until the dying minutes in an attempt to go through. You could say the modern-day pro should be able to handle two games in a week but there will be a bit of fatigue there. It doesn't matter how you try to cover it up.

Having said that, I know first-hand how good a team Celtic are. We have played them three times this season, and I know what they can produce. They probably don't have to play their best to win games most weeks in the SPFL. Listen it might not have been the Inter Milan of old, but they still have some really good players there, and to keep it 0-0 until late with ten men, knowing if they scored late on they were through to the last 16, was a decent achievement.

Virgil van Dijk might not have handled the Inter match so well - he had some mistakes in the first match then sent off in the second - but for me he is similar to Victor Wanyama in his strength, pace and ability. He is a colossus, a machine, but he has to be tested more than he is up here. He might have to up his game to handle the Premiership, but he is absolutely a player who could go to England.

There have been a few big domestic games in Scottish football over the years but this is precisely the kind of challenge which Rangers and Celtic used to put on each other and it is so refreshing to see a side outwith the Old Firm putting that pressure on. Celtic go into it three points clear, with one game in hand. So I think both teams would probably say 'don't lose the game'. A draw would probably suit both - it would keep Aberdeen in the title race, and allow Celtic to maintain their three point lead with a game in hand. Of course both sides want to win it but I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up a draw. That would keep it all boiling along nicely with that post-split game still to come.

THERE have been echoes of Brian Dempsey and the 'rebels have won' about events at Rangers leading up to Friday's EGM but Mike Ashley is a hard man to shift and I think there is still a bit to run in this one. Everybody knows the fans want Dave King in and that is what they think will happen. But even assuming that is the case, Rangers have a lot to sort out and the hard work starts here just to get them competitive again. It will take a mixture of things, getting the club stable again, getting things moving the right way again on the field, but the fans should come back in their droves.

While we're on the subject of Rangers, I can't believe SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan is now appealing the two match ban handed down by the independent judiciary panel convened by the SFA in the Steve Simonsen betting affair because he feels it was too lenient.

In my opinion, the rules on gambling in this country - players are prohibited from betting on any matches - are absurd and the punishment has to fit the crime. I know the authorities take a hardline stance on this in an attempt to prevent matches from being rigged, but in my opinion they are causing themselves more problems.