And so, it all comes down to this for Brendan Rodgers and his team.

If the Celtic manager can steer his side to victory over Rangers on their own patch tomorrow, in front of 60,000 of their own fans, they will have nine fingers – never mind one hand - on the Premiership trophy.

Here are five things that Rodgers and his men must do if they are to see off Rangers on the day, and all but see off their city rivals in their quest for the title…

GO ALL OUT ON THE FRONT FOOT

As anyone who was at Celtic Park to witness the famous 3-0 win that turned the title race Celtic’s way in Ange Postecoglou’s first season in charge will know full well, harnessing the power of 60,000 fans can have a devastating effect in an Old Firm clash.

Rangers were simply blown off the park in the first half that night, and with the way that his Celtic side finished their last game against Hearts, Rodgers will be hoping that they will come flying out of the traps on Saturday and carry the stadium with them once again.

READ MORE: Celtic 3 Hearts 0: Kyogo and co crank up pressure on Rangers

Confidence among the Rangers players will be flagging after a bruising couple of weeks, and an early goal might well see them crumble.

However…

THEY MUST AVOID EARLY DEFENSIVE LAPSES

The flip side to that coin is that they have to avoid what happened to Rangers in the last meeting between the sides at Ibrox, where Daizen Maeda’s goal after 26 seconds sucked the life out of Ibrox and the home support.

Rangers never really recovered until they were 2-0 down at the interval, and the last thing that Celtic want to do is to squander the advantage that having a stadium filled exclusively with their own supporters undoubtedly brings.

Worryingly though from Celtic’s perspective, in the last home game against Hearts they almost did fall behind in the opening seconds as they started rather dozily, Lawrence Shankland only being denied a stunning opener by a desperate last-gasp block from Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Rodgers must drill into his players the importance of not only starting well in an attacking sense, then, but also the importance of defensive focus right from the off, and making sure they don’t hand Rangers the initiative.

UNLEASH MAEDA ON JAMES TAVERNIER

If there were any doubts about Maeda’s condition and his ability to start this match so soon after the hamstring injury that threatened to end his season, then they were surely dispelled by his blistering cameo against Hearts from the bench last weekend.

Teammate Joe Hart said afterwards that it looked as though Maeda ‘had been shot out of a cannon’, and his insight into how devastated the Celtic squad were when it initially appeared his campaign may be coming to a premature end told you everything about his importance to his team.

On the ball, Maeda can be hit and miss, but there is no doubt whatsoever that he has got into the head of Rangers captain, with his energy and high pressing causing Tavernier all sorts of problems in Old Firm games over the past couple of seasons.

It was his harrying of Tavernier into the awful error that put Celtic ahead at Ibrox in the last meeting that set the tone for that half, and if he can get on the front foot early here, he will take a packed Celtic Park with him.

His name appearing on the teamsheet has the potential to spook Tavernier, and even if he can only give Celtic an hour, he has to start.

START JAMES FORREST

On the other flank, there is no question over who deserves the nod if taking recent form into account. Forrest has reappeared from nowhere to show Celtic just what they have been missing during the time that manager Rodgers neglected to utilise him.

His form since climbing off the bench against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final has made his spell in Celtic Siberia all the more puzzling, but at last it appears Rodgers is convinced that he can still make a telling contribution.

Forrest is renowned for his professionalism, and if anything, looks in his best condition for years. His passing, sharpness and nous have been a huge part of Celtic’s upturn in performance over the last few weeks, picking up pockets of space and providing a headache for opposition defences as he drifts along the frontline.

READ MORE: Celtic star Forrest deserves more respect, and a Euros spot

In fairness to Nicolas Kuhn, he is looking better too with each passing week, but he is still some way from the level that Forrest is capable of producing, and the experience the 32-year-old has of this fixture – and making a telling impact in it – should make him a shoo-in for the starting XI.

LIMIT THE CONCESSION OF SET-PIECES

It is hardly a secret that a major weakness of Celtic’s this season has been their defending from set-pieces, and with Tavernier’s delivery around the box – and his penchant for scoring free-kicks at Celtic Park in recent times – there has to be emphasis placed on avoiding the concession of fouls around the area as well as corners.

Ironically, Rangers’ threat from corner kicks has been surprisingly limited this term, but given how poor Celtic have been at protecting Joe Hart in such situations, they don’t want to be giving their opponents too many opportunities to swing the ball in on top of the keeper.