Brendan Rodgers cranks Rangers pressure up a notch as boss doubles down on his Celtic prophecy

Bullish Brendan Rodgers has doubled down on his belief Celtic "come alive" at this stage of the season - as he warned his stars they aren’t holiday makers.

Heading into the post-split fixtures, the Irishman insisted his Celtic side are in a good place going into the final five post-split games but admits that there is still a long way to go. Rangers recently appeared to be in pole position to claim the Scottish Premiership title but following the Light Blues' defeat to Ross County and draw with Dundee, the pendulum has swung back to the green half of Glasgow.

The comments following the win over St Mirren were interpreted by some pundits and fans as mind games to ramp the pressure up on Philippe Clement and his players for the crucial run-in. BBC pundit and former Scotland star Pat Nevin stated this was the exact moment Rodgers turned up the the title "pressure gauge" up on their rivals.

Quizzed on Celtic TV about his comments about "coming alive" at the end of the season and how they had perceived by the punters, Rodgers said: "That is the expectation. We are not here on holiday.

"We are here to win and we are here to win in the best possible fashion that we can. That has always been my mantra. We are not just here to win, we are here to win in the best way possible.

"I think we sense that and we feel that as a club. Everything is in our hands to achieve what we want to achieve, and that is what we are focussing on."