Three clubs. 1 trophy. And then there are the title contenders who refuse to follow the established script.
The momentum is wavering, the pressure is increasing and now every game carries the weight of the season. Especially this Saturday’s game.
Celtic v Rangers at Celtic Park, Sky Sports live broadcast. It’s an Old Firm clash that will have huge implications for this three-way fight for the title.
Saturday, January 3rd 11:30 am
Kickoff at 12:30 PM
Hearts’ brave challenge outside the Old Firm created a run-in that was so thrilling that it was impossible to take one’s eyes off the father-son-and-son team. Are they on track to end Celtic and Rangers’ 40-year reign at the top?
As the campaign reaches a defining moment of the season, it is Hearts who sit on top. He leads the team with 41 points. Celtic and Rangers are a bit behind but will be chasing hard until the last kick.
Celtic, who have 38 points, are driven as much by expectations as by ambition. Rangers, who are three points behind 35, know better than anyone how quickly momentum can move in this league. It is they who take the form of words.
Since Danny Röhl took charge, Rangers have taken more points than anyone else in their 11 league games, winning eight, drawing two and losing one to Hearts.
Seasons can change moments. For Rangers, Saturday’s derby could be one of them. After months of chaos, change and seeking consistency, the opportunity to reset the title picture suddenly presented itself before them.
A win over Celtic won’t just be about bragging rights or momentum, it will put Rangers firmly in the title picture.
Röhl’s Rangers
The next five league matches are scheduled for:
Celtic (a) – January 3 – Live on Sky Sports
Aberdeen (h) – 6 January – Live on Sky Sports
Aberdeen (a) – January 11 – Live on Sky Sports
Dundee (h) – 25 January
Hibernation (a) – February 1
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After the win over St Mirren, Danny Röhl discussed getting his side into the title race and facing Celtic next.
“Rangers are done, done and can forget about it. Twelve points is too much to get back.”
Kris Boyd’s previous team’s title hopes ended after a 2-1 defeat to Hearts on December 21. But just two games later, they have six points from six and with both Hearts and Celtic failing, things are looking a lot rosier.
Rangers’ resurgence under Röhl is modest. It’s not flashy. But it is increasingly effective.
Rangers have picked up the most points at any club since Danny Röhl took charge at Ibrox.
After the upheaval of Russell Martin, who was in control at the expense of defensive security, Rangers are now winning games as they become more difficult to win. There is less chaos. The risk has been managed. And, crucially, the goals against Callum have tightened dramatically. The seven goals in 11 games alone tell a story of their own.
Under Röhl, Rangers made far fewer concessions, not by accident but by design. While Martin’s team were vulnerable in transition, Röhl’s Rangers look methodical, patient and much more selective when putting numbers forward.
Rangers may not be finished yet, but they are building a platform that could move them well into title contention: defensive resilience, game management and the ability to punish opponents at crucial moments.
Celtic are faltering but remain favorites to win the title. Why?
The next five league matches are scheduled for:
Rangers (h) – January 3 – Live on Sky Sports
Dundee Utd (h) – 10 January
Falkirk (a) – January 14
Hearts(a) – January 25 – Live on Sky Sports
Falkirk (h) – 1 February
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Despite the defeat at Motherwell, Wilfrid Nancy insists he can turn his Celtic tenure around.
Logic dictates that the Scottish Premiership title race is moving away from Celtic. The form lines certainly do. Under Wilfried Nancy they suffered five defeats in six league games. 3 points difference with leader Hearts. As winter approaches, there are more questions than answers. Nonetheless, one thing remains constant when checking bookmakers’ prices in the title race. That’s right, Celtic are still popular with Sky Bet.
Only time will tell whether that will be proven right or wrong once the season ends. But bookmakers don’t put a price on emotion. Put a price on probability. And in this title race, the odds are still heavily tilted in Celtic’s favor despite the turbulence.
Bookmakers are banking on institutional memory as this is a club that knows how to win titles when the pressure mounts. And, crucially, the underlying data also provides comfort.
Celtic play a much higher defensive line under Wilfried Nancy, with the wing-backs positioned furthest forward, leaving only one centre-back in their own half on average.
Despite the defeat under Nancy, Celtic still dominated the game and their chance creation was unbroken. The transition has occurred. Additionally, defensive mistakes were costly. In these seven games, Celtic’s expected goals per 90 minutes superiority (a metric that calculates expected goals against -expected goals) is a very impressive +1.38.
To give some more context to those numbers, Hearts’ xG supremacy is +0.28 over their last 7 games, while Rangers’ is +0.76.
Celtic don’t look like champions at the moment. That much is clear. However, based on these performance metrics, there are still positives for Nancy.
The heart still leads the way. Please catch us if you can.
The next five league matches are scheduled for:
Livingston (h) – January 3
Dundee (a) – January 11 – Live on Sky Sports
St Mirren (h) – 14 January
Celtic (h) – January 25 – Live on Sky Sports
Dundee United (a) – January 31 – Live on Sky Sports
Derek McInnes’ Hearts are the first non-Old Firm side to reach the top of Scottish football in the new year since the 1993/94 season.
When Tony Bloom joined Hearts, his prediction was to win the title within 10 years. He’s on the verge of fulfilling that unlikely promise, well ahead of schedule. It only took one transfer period for the Jamestown Analytics model to work its magic.
Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga did not join to speak out or cause a scene. They were brought in to solve the problem. In doing so, Hearts will have exposed just how far behind much of Scottish football still is when it comes to recruitment. Hart has a target skill set, not a CV. They looked at what the system needed and shopped in markets that others ignored.
Between them, Braga (12) and Kyziridis (9) have scored 21 goals this season, while team-mate Lawrence Shankland has scored nine goals and provided two assists.
Braga (left) and Shankland have scored 18 league goals for Hearts this season.
Hearts, who are the league’s top scorers with 38 goals, need Braga, Kygiridis and Shankland to continue their hot run into 2026. Defeats against Aberdeen and Hibernian have opened the door for the chasers, but a record of four wins from four games against the Old Firm this season means Hearts have kept the big boys at arm’s length indefinitely.
But staying in the Old Firm for an entire season is a unique challenge. Hearts’ ability to keep finding the net in a race where the pressure increases every week could be the difference between dreaming audaciously and delivering something truly historic.
