Rangers reverting to type has them on life support as Celtic come alive before sizzling Cup subplot – Chris Sutton

The Scottish Cup semi-finals are important in their own right as there is a trophy at stake for the four remaining teams.

But I can’t help but feel this weekend is going to be huge in terms of the title race as well. In some ways Hampden is a distraction for Celtic and Rangers. For Brendan Rodgers and Celtic, they will be itching to get back to league duty to pile more pressure on Rangers. For Philippe Clement and his side, they badly need to get back on track after suffering some serious setbacks of late.

There will be pressure on both of them but you’ve got to feel it’s been cranked up another level on Rangers. If they don’t get past Hearts on Sunday there could be a huge knock-on effect to their league campaign, already badly faltering. If Celtic get past Aberdeen, the momentum remains with them, along with the confidence and belief.

Those traits are in short supply at Ibrox right now. Clement is showing signs Glasgow is starting to get to him. His post-match comments after that desperate display in Dundee – when he said he got a response from Ross County and the Dens men were lucky – didn’t wash with fans. They are not daft. Clement talked about the Dundee keeper making saves and shots cleared off the line.

We all saw the game. It’s one thing protecting his players at such a vital time of the season, but you can’t pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. I have a degree of sympathy for Clement. He probably over-performed with the squad at his disposal, but we are now seeing them revert to type.

At Celtic, you can see the influence of key players returning, like Reo Hatate, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Callum McGregor. Like Brendan Rodgers said, they are coming alive at the business end of the season. Rangers’ hopes are on