If Carlsberg did Sundays. A difficult away trip for Rangers and what seemed like a relatively straight forward home game for Celtic turned into a 13 point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership before the tables had been set for dinner.
Scoreboard pressure is not a new phenomenon in sport and although the Light Blues have played a couple of games extra, the Parkhead side’s current form does not suggest that they will be closing the gap any time soon.
We haven’t enjoyed this sort of lead in the top flight since 2011/12, although this time, our management both on and off the park is significantly better equipped to deal with the pressure of a title challenge.
Few would have predicted that Callum Davidson’s men would take points off Celtic, they have been on a decent run of late but you would have expected some sort of reaction to the defeat to Ross County last weekend – apparently not.
The wheels have well and truly fallen off in the East End of Glasgow and although we are well within our rights to make the most of it, the biggest focus should be on what we are doing, keep the pressure on and take the proverbial one game at a time.
Thursday’s Europa League tie with Lech Poznan will allow Steven Gerrard to rotate his squad ahead of another long away trip to face Dundee United next weekend, yes they have been hit with Covid-19 issues, but they were still able to field a strong team against Livingston, only to fall to a 2-0 defeat.
Every team will fancy their chances against Celtic now whereas our defensive record alone – not a single goal conceded domestically since September – ensures that a psychological blow is dealt whenever we take the lead, seeing players like Cedric Itten, Jermain Defoe, Ianis Hagi, Bongani Zungu and Scott Arfield coming on when you are already getting beat is enough to put the fear into any team.
We have the momentum and the scoreboard pressure, it is up to the players and management to seize the initiative and write their names in history, if you thought today was fun, imagine how it will feel if we win the league.