Why Rangers NEVER targeted Aberdeen as Philippe Clement finally sees Celtic on the horizon

Rangers went second in the Premiership for the first time this term - but Philippe Clement says catching Aberdeen was never their target.

Instead, the Ibrox gaffer now wants to set his sights on Celtic at the top by racking up as many points as possible in the second half of the campaign. Clement’s side beat Dundee 1-0 yesterday to leapfrog the Dons after clawing back a nine-point deficit in the table. They’re now one ahead of Jimmy Thelin’s men with a game in hand - but still trail their Old Firm rivals by eight, with Celtic playing On Sunday.

Clement refused to admit that going second was significant because all he’s focusing on is Rangers’ progress. And he’s adamant that if they continue with that mentality they can still achieve success this season, despite their ropey start. The next Glasgow derby is less than a fortnight away but his side face St Mirren first on Boxing Day then Motherwell at Fir Park.

And Clement said: “It wasn’t a target for us (catching Aberdeen). It’s about us and what we do. I’m convinced we can make a good season if we focus on ourselves and not other teams.

“It’s about us taking points, not looking at other clubs.

“We’ll continue in that way to make this team better and progress. We want to take more points than we did in the first few months because it wasn’t enough, we all know that. So we want to make a better second part of the season.”

Clement was delighted with the win over Dundee, especially after their heartbreaking League Cup Final defeat to Celtic at Hampden last week. Vaclav Cerny’s 10th goal of the season wrapped up the points - but the manager urged his players to be more clinical.

Incredibly, Gers hit the bar FOUR times against the Dark Blues with Clement claiming they could