After the Old firn derby defeat to Celtic, Rangers would have thought that they might have to play the catchup game again this season. But Celtic failed to keep their advantage on the top of the table for long as they dropped points in back to back league games against Hibernian and Livingston.
Rangers are expected to compete on every front this season, and they even opened their Europa League campaign with a win. Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton who has often played down Rangers’ resurgence under Gerrard so far finally went on to admit that the Hoops will have a tight title race on their hands.
Sutton talks about Rangers’ title credentials
Writing his column for Daily Record, Sutton said, ”Make no mistake, it’s game on for the title this season. The last couple of weeks have proved it. It wasn’t so long ago it seemed Celtic had reinforced their superiority with the win at Ibrox.”
”But a couple of poor results against Hibs and Livingston and the pendulum has swung the other way. I’ve got no doubt it will happen a good few times over the course of the campaign. There is going to be slip-ups from both sides from time to time. It will come down to which team stumbles the least – not just the Old Firm head-to-heads.”
Why Rangers look strong this season?
It took Sutton a bit longer to get it but anyone who has watched Rangers play since the back end of the last season would realise that Celtic will have a real title race on their hands for the first time in years. Gerrard definitely deserves big credit for that as he has prepared a side which can challenge on all fronts.
Rangers’ squad depth is already paying rich dividends as they played the last few games without Joe Aribo, Jordan Jones and Ryan Kent. However, they kept on producing convincing performances more often than not. Sutton also went on to talk about how having two in-form strikers like Jermain Defoe and Alfredo Morelos has added an extra edge to the Gers.
With Ryan Kent set to come back and Morelos leaving his temperamental issues behind him, Rangers should be confident of going past other teams every time they take on the pitch. The Old Firm derbies are obviously going to be crucial encounters, but Gerrard needs to make sure that he is able to keep the intensity of the players in all the other games as well. The squad has the right amount of experience and depth, and Gerrard’s men have undoubtedly emerged as a genuine title contender this season with even Rangers’ harshest critic Sutton claiming that.
