Celtic put down Rangers gauntlet, Gio ready to respond

Celtic are putting the gauntlet down – having gubbed us 3-0 on their patch, they’re doing the same to fourth-place Motherwell on theirs, and Ibrox Noise couldn’t welcome this more.

Rangers hit a form lull this year, once again, and having had a bad night on Wednesday the onus is now on us to hunt Celtic.

Yes, it’s all good and well and funny when they trip up, when they fall on their faces and when we romp away.

But that’s not going to happen this season – and Rangers need to stand up to the challenge that awaits us, because Celtic have certainly improved since the first two months of the season.

Rangers, on our day, are the best in the country, we are the champions. But champions get pushed, chased, hunted, and right now having been bypassed in the table by that single point, we have a stiff test from Hearts to prove we have the balls to go all the way and defend our title.

Celtic aren’t going to let up now – they’ve hit their traditional post-new year form hike, just when we’ve gone into our slump.

So it’s time to reverse that trend, that pattern, and get our own hike going too.

This is when the true steel of this Rangers squad is properly tested.

We destroyed the SPL last season, completely. But it’s harder to defend when you’re the hunted than to hunt.

So today, we respond to Celtic with our own statement. We beat Hearts, and we do it convincingly.

Because 56 isn’t going to be handed to us.

Not by a long way.