Brendan Rodgers is facing his toughest Rangers test yet in iron fist Philippe Clement – Chris Sutton

Brendan Rodgers is facing his biggest-ever Old Firm examination.

But victory over Philippe Clement’s Rangers will put doubters to bed and reinstall huge Celtic fan belief in their boss. Rodgers disposed of Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Graeme Murty and Steven Gerrard during his first term at the club and sworded Michael Beale upon his return in a triumphant comeback to the encounter almost three months ago.

However, just assessing the fixture as it stands, I see this as the biggest test Rodgers has faced against Rangers and there’s a lot of mitigating factors that go into devising that theory. Although Celtic have won their last two games, were good against Dundee during the week and still sit top of the table, you can’t say they are in scintillating form. Rodgers has dealt with those previous Rangers managers with, to my mind, some ease. Gerrard won one game against him, but that was it. Beale was never going to get the better of him. Rodgers took half a team to Ibrox in September and still beat him.

But Clement looks better than those predecessors Rodgers has taken on previously. I can’t really see where he’s put a foot wrong so far and he’s collected a Viaplay Cup during an initial unbeaten record of 16 games. His team are winning, he’s not saying anything daft and taking no-nonsense as we saw when he hooked Todd Cantwell off during the first half of a European game. He also gave the midfielder and Danilo short shrift for over-celebrating after a goal.

Clement appears to rule with an iron-fist and he’s getting a response. Having won away from home against Real Betis, he’s not going to fear going across Glasgow and Rodgers and his team will have to be at their best, no question.

I stand by what I said last week in