Celtic vs Rangers: Old Firm talking points ahead first Premiership clash of season, live on Sky Sports on Sunday
Seven days after Rangers laid down an emphatic marker with a 3-0 League Cup quarter-final win at Ibrox, the two Glasgow giants meet again on Sunday — this time in the Scottish Premiership, live on Sky Sports, and with the destination of the early title race hanging over the
The build-up to Sunday could hardly have gone more differently for the two camps. Rangers’ win in the cup — sealed by a Dan Neil brace and a Kevin Kelsy volley, with Celtic managing only a single shot on target — has been followed by a week in which Derek McInnes appears to have “weathered an early storm” since taking over at Ibrox, according to Sky Sports’ build-up. Celtic, by contrast, followed that cup defeat with a 3-1 loss away to Ferencvaros in the Europa League on Thursday, leaving Martin O’Neill searching for answers after what’s been described as a “nightmare week.”
The stakes attached to Sunday’s result are significant. A Rangers win would move McInnes’s side to within two points of Celtic in the Premiership after seven games — a remarkable turnaround given their sluggish start to the campaign. A Celtic win, on the other hand, would push the gap out to eight points and pile fresh scrutiny back onto O’Neill, whose side had won every league game before this bruising
Sky Sports’ preview describes O’Neill as facing “a dizzying migraine” over team selection, with only six names apparently nailed on for his starting XI: captain Callum McGregor, in-form midfielder Benjamin Nygren, top scorer Camilo Duran, fan favourite Kieran Tierney, defensive lynchpin Cameron Carter-Vickers, and academy graduate Colby Donovan. Beyond that core, at least five positions are genuinely up for grabs.
Goalkeeper is one of the areas under the microscope, with Sam Johnstone having looked short of convincing on his Old Firm debut in last weekend’s cup defeat — leaving O’Neill to weigh up whether a change between the posts is needed for a game of this magnitude. Elsewhere, decisions loom over the make-up of the attack, with Kasper Hogh — preferred centrally in that cup defeat after returning from injury — potentially facing competition from Camilo Duran for the central striking role, a call O’Neill will need to get right against a Rangers side full of confidence.
For McInnes, the picture is far simpler. His side head into Sunday full of confidence after four straight Premiership wins on top of last weekend’s cup victory, and a win would complete an early-season double over their fiercest rivals in his first Old Firm test as manager. New arrival Kevin Kelsy, signed for a reported £9million on transfer deadline day from Portland Timbers, made his first start in the cup win and will again be under scrutiny — he’s yet to open his account in a Rangers shirt, and an Old Firm derby would be a fitting stage to end that want
As with last weekend’s cup tie, there will be no travelling support inside the ground for Sunday’s game — only Celtic fans will be present at Parkhead, with the authorities enforcing separation amid an ongoing ticket allocation dispute between the two clubs. It’s a continuation of the pattern seen throughout the early weeks of this season’s fixtures between the sides, and, as was noted after last week’s game, it remains impossible to measure what impact, if any, the atmosphere shift has had on performances so
Beyond the head-to-head bragging rights, this fixture arrives at a pivotal early moment in the title race. Celtic have generally been the standard-setters domestically, but back-to-back defeats have introduced a rare note of vulnerability, with some pundits pointing to early signs of fragility when Celtic are confronted by the physical, direct approach Rangers showed in the cup tie. One Celtic voice, addressing the club’s position heading into the weekend, insisted the team remains firmly in the box seat regardless of the recent results, pointing out that even a defeat on Sunday wouldn’t cost them top spot before the international break — though a repeat of last week’s flat performance would clearly raise far bigger questions than the league table alone reflects.
For Rangers, the equation is more straightforward: win, and a difficult start to McInnes’s tenure will feel like a distant memory, with the manager potentially delivering a first piece of tangible momentum — and silverware pathway — since the club’s trophy drought began in 2024. Lose, and the story of the week reverts quickly to Celtic’s course correction rather than Rangers’ revival
