Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 at the weekend to go 19 points clear of their Glasgow rivals in the Scottish Premiership. Neil Lennon’s side have three games in hand yet the situation still looks hugely positive for Steven Gerrard.
Celtic were their own enemy in the match as Nir Bitton was given a red card not long after the hour mark, and then Callum McGregor scored a decisive own goal.
Once Rangers returned to the top flight and the prospect of battles against Celtic emerged again, the world sport media started to give more attention to Glasgow. That Gerrard was in the Ibrox dugout only encouraged things further.
Monday’s edition of De Telegraaf has a big feature on Rangers, and how they can end Celtic’s quest for 10-in-a-row. They’ve spoken to several former players, and Ronald de Boer is quoted as saying: “They just play well. That trend started two years ago. There has been structure since Steven Gerrard is the trainer. And of course Rangers want to appear in front of Celtic’s ten in a row, but such an ambition must be based on something. And it is now, given their quality. We have already seen them in the Netherlands against Feyenoord and Willem II in the Europa League.”
Arthur Numan added to that and, whilst he’s clearly pleased Rangers are in the position they are, he made sure to insist the title race has a long way to go yet: “Rangers achieved nine in a row in the 1990s. Celtic can therefore write history this season with the tenth. The club is committed to making that happen, but Rangers want to prevent that. Is 
the title a certainty? Well, when I was in my senior year with Rangers, we were nine points ahead of Celtic with six games to go. But we lost that lead and it came to the last game. Fortunately, we still took the title, with one goal difference!”
Gerrard will be thrilled his side are in their current position, but given it’s still only January there’s bound to be some nerves at Rangers about Celtic potentially making such a great comeback.
