Rangers can open a 10-point lead over Celtic by beating its
traditional rival in the Scottish Premier League on Sunday and goes
into the game buoyed by a 7-1 victory over Dundee United in which
Kris Boyd scored five goals.
Although Celtic has a game in hand and home advantage,
defending champion Rangers goes into the "Old Firm" confrontation
with the better form, having lost only once in 18 league matches
this season.
Boyd's five goals on Wednesday took him to 160 to lead the
Scottish Premier League all-time scorers past former Celtic striker
Henrik Larsson's 158. Boyd is yet to sign a new deal with Rangers.
With strike partner Kenny Miller ruled out of the game after
being sent off against Dundee United, Boyd is likely to play a big
part on Sunday even though he has not always been a regular starter
against Rangers' biggest rival.
"He has missed quite a few Celtic games in the time that I've
been back, but he also played in a few of them as well," Rangers
manager Walter Smith said. "Right at the present moment, the team
is doing extremely well and I don't envisage a situation where you
would go along there and play without him."
Boyd has struggled to make an impact against Celtic, but
Smith doesn't believe that will affect his form.
"I don't think it puts any extra pressure on him," the
Rangers manager said. "He accepts the pressure he has of being our
leading goalscorer for a number of years."
Celtic needs to win to trim the deficit to four points,
especially because Rangers now has a much better goal difference
(34 to Celtic's 18).
Celtic manager Tony Mowbray says his team will be wary of
Boyd but wants his own strikers to produce the same form.
"Boyd is a threat, obviously," Mowbray said. "I go back to
when I was a player (for Celtic). In any given second, Ally McCoist
could score a goal and I think Kris Boyd is in a similar mold. You
might not notice him for long spells and then he is there. He knows
where to run, he knows where to go.
"In this game, I hope we have the match-winners in our side.
We have to look at it as confidently as we can and believe that we
can create chances. We have players ourselves who can score goals
and go past individuals and cause damage."
Third-place Hibernian, which is 11 points behind Rangers,
hosts Edinburgh neighbor Hearts on Sunday.
