Carter Vickers pinpoints key Celtic area for improvement but Rangers clash leaves him saying 'bring on the weekend'

Celtic star Cameron Carter-Vickers can’t wait for Saturday’s showdown against Rangers.

The American defender played a key role as the champs again moved nine points clear in the title race by beating Ross County. Carter-Vickers, who was involved in the penalty incident which led to Jota’s opener in Dingwall, admits his team were not at their smoothest.

But with their mission accomplished, all Celtic eyes now turn to the visit of their nearest-challengers. Ange Postecoglou’s men have an opportunity to go a dozen points clear in the flag fight and Carter-Vickers said: “We know next week is a big game. We will have a week’s training now, be right at it throughout the week and bring on the weekend. They [Ross County] made the game difficult for us and I don’t think we were at our best and had great control of the game.

“But one thing about this group is that even when we’re not at our best we still find ways to score goals and win games. I’m not too sure why we were not at our best, but you have to give credit to them because they were well organised and worked hard.”

Jota agreed it was not tip-top, but added on Sky: “We know that every time we come here it is a tough match, they always go deep, so we have to find the spaces in between the lines.

“It was another difficult one, but in the end it came good. Getting the goal before half-time was good, we just tried to control the game in the second half, but we could have delivered more goals.”

Jota sank a second successive penalty in the absence of regular taker Aaron Mooy and said: “Football is about feelings and being in the zone, that’s where I was so I just want to keep doing that.”