James Tavernier in 'anything can happen' Rangers fighting talk as he admits Celtic slow start has to stop

Defiant James Tavernier believes 'anything can happen' as Rangers look to close the gap on Celtic at the Scottish Premiership summit when the pair meet at Parkhead on Saturday.

Celtic have maintained a nine point lead since the World Cup break despite Rangers winning all but one of their 15 games under manager Michael Beale. It was a 2-2 draw when the Glasgow giants went head to head on league duty in January while Celtic came out on top to lift the Viaplay Cup six week's ago. And Gers captain Tavernier is well aware that slow starts have been costly to his side in big games but he reckons the solid defensive unit displayed in recent weeks will stand them in good stead to pick up all three points against the Hoops and reduce the deficit to six points, with seven games remaining.

"Well anything can happen in football, we all know that," Tavernier confessed. "But it is obviously important tomorrow to try and bring that gap down and that's what our full focus is. Our full focus going into every game is trying to get three points and that's what we will be trying to do.

"We always want to start the game strong no matter who we play. No matter what our position is, we always want to start the game strong. As a defensive line or the actual team, we don't want to concede any goals in any game. We know they will have threats but we have been in really good form at the back and we obviously want to continue that. So going into tomorrow we want to keep the door shut."

Asked if the decision to prevent any Rangers supporters attending the clash at Parkhead, Tavernier claimed the team have to remain focused with matters on the pitch.

He replied: "I think the majority of the game it tends to get blocked out but obviously you get