The season is barely a third of the way through and yet there are already signs that Rangers wait for a 55th Premiership title could be coming to an end.
One man who believes that his former club are now the favourites to go on and lift the trophy is Alex McLeish, as reported by The Daily Record.
So what has McLeish said?
The treble winning gaffer has pinpointed the key difference in what makes the Ibrox side the new team to beat in a title race destined to go to the wire:
“Rangers are favourites, in current form.
“Anything can happen in a season, there are lots of games. Injuries can catch up, as we’ve seen with Neil Lennon and Celtic in recent weeks.
“But Gerrard has taken everything in his stride and not shouted from the rooftops about what he can do. He’s doing it very quietly.
“For me, Stevie’s recruitment has made a difference this season.
“Two strikers in Cedric Itten, who we haven’t seen a lot of yet, and Kemar Roofe, whose goal on Thursday was phenomenal.
“Last season, Alfredo Morelos was (sometimes) out, whether through injury or suspension, and Jermain Defoe can’t go on forever. To have these two extra strikers was a bit of a masterstroke and it was needed to be honest.”
So is McLeish correct?
Only looking at current form and what we have seen so far, you have to say that he is, Rangers already had a solid defence but now they are restricting teams to just a solitary shot on target, in some games none at all – Celtic I’m looking at you here.
Are Rangers now favourites to win the league?
Yes
No
Goals win games, but defences win championships. Big Eck talks about the recruitment and specifically the forward line but it has been the additions of Jon McLaughlin, Calvin Bassey and Leon Balogun that, arguably, have made the biggest impact whilst across the city the £7million investment on Shane Duffy’s loan and the signing of Vasilis Barkas has already been questioned.
The team is no longer weaker when the “understudies” are called upon, the midfield has strength in depth and as McLeish says, Steven Gerrard can now afford to rest – or drop – Alfredo Morelos because of the firepower he has available, that Jermain Defoe started and scored against Livingston almost proves the former Rangers manager’s point to perfection.