Rangers without Alfredo Morelos for crucial Old Firm derby with Celtic

Recent depictions of a Scottish Premiership title race between Celtic and Rangers should have fallen foul of the Trades Descriptions Act.

A year ago, Rangers were easing to victory in a campaign which saw their oldest foes implode. Steven Gerrard had two earlier stabs at denying Celtic the flag but watched his Rangers team pull up lame from January. Immediately before Gerrard’s arrival in Glasgow, and including a period in which Rangers were fumbling around in the lower divisions, the concept of any team properly challenging Celtic’s dominance was a fanciful one.

So there is ample cause to ramp up the importance of a Sunday Old Firm clash as both difficult to call and crucial in respect of the championship’s conclusion. There is a genuine battle for the Premiership, with this fixture key to which club will secure glory in May.

Celtic, from a position of three points and 14 goals ahead of Rangers after 31 matches, can assume that avoiding defeat at Ibrox should be enough to afford them a huge step towards reclaiming the title. In that circumstance, Celtic would have won 21 major domestic trophies to Rangers’ one since the start of season 2011-12.

With such a scenario, and damagingly for Rangers, last season would look the exception to Scottish football’s recent rule. There was a Rangers financial implosion within the quoted spell, of course, but given their scale of spending the return to this point remains hugely underwhelming as players – the captain James Tavernier is case in point – are treated like heroes.

Rangers have been rocked by the injury to their main striker, Alfredo Morelos, with the Colombian a major doubt for the remainder of this season. It should be noted that Celtic have missed their most influential