Kris Boyd admits to fear for Rangers against Celtic

Celtic will have the chance to virtually guarantee themselves the Premiership title when they come up against the Rangers at Parkhead this week. A win would leave them 9 points clear of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side with 3 league games to go. And with the significantly better goal difference that they have as well, it would take a miracle for the Ibrox side to come back from that situation.

But the Hoops will be wary of the threat that this Rangers side possess as well. They played 120 minutes in midweek against SC Braga in the Europa League before outplaying and beating Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park a couple of weeks ago.

Thus, expect this to be a very tight affair between the two best teams in Scotland with the stakes as high as possible.

Van Bronckhorst will have to worry about the upcoming Europa League semi-final second leg against RB Leipzig at the same time though, set to be played this midweek at Ibrox. The Rangers lost the first leg 1-0 away in Germany. Kris Boyd believes though that making too many changes to the team in anticipation of that game could end up having a negative impact on them.

Boyd admits to fear for Rangers heading into Celtic Park

Heading into the all important Glasgow Derby, Boyd said in his column in The Scottish Sun:

Make no mistake, reaching the final has to be the priority for Rangers right now.

However, on the flip side, you certainly don’t want to be hosting the Germans on the back of a hiding in the ‘Glasgow Derby’.

And that could happen if Gers boss Van Bronckhorst goes in with a weakened team against Celtic.

Keeping his key players fresh is all well and good in theory.

But it could have a detrimental effect for Thursday if Rangers get trounced tomorrow.

All that positivity from reaching the Scottish Cup final and going so well in Europe could evaporate.

With the Rangers already missing several players through injury and suspension, it would be a bit of a surprise if Van Bronckhorst ended up naming a further weakened team on Sunday.

At the end of the day, the Premiership title race is not over by any means and a win for the Rangers would open things back up. Of course, one also has to point out that Boyd might just be downplaying the chances of his former club here, similar to how he did before the Scottish Cup semi-final.

On the part of Celtic, there can be no place for complacency and they must be prepared to face the best version of the Rangers.

This article was originally posted here

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