Rangers and Celtic Prepare for Crucial Midweek Matches
By the time the Old Firm step out on Sunday, the Scottish Premiership table could already have snapped back into a familiar shape.
Rangers, hunting a fourth straight league win, welcome an in-form St Mirren to Ibrox on Wednesday. Celtic, flawless so far on domestic duty, head up the A9 to face a resurgent St Johnstone in Perth. Both know there’s more at stake than three points. The Premier Sports Cup quarter-final derby looms at Ibrox this weekend. Nobody wants to go into that one on the back of a stumble.
Rangers building momentum – and facing a real test
Rangers may sit behind St Mirren on goal difference for now, but the mood around Ibrox has shifted. Three wins on the spin – Aberdeen, Falkirk, Motherwell – have steadied Derek McInnes’ side after a stuttering start that saw dropped points in the league and an early European exit.
The recovery has been built from the back. James Penrice has slotted in at left-back and not looked back since his eye-catching debut against St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup, when he scored one and made another in a 5-0 rout. Alongside him, Olwethu Makhanya and Emmanuel Fernandez have started every game in central defence. Fernandez still has the odd shaky moment, but the continuity has given Rangers a platform they badly lacked in August.
Motherwell barely laid a glove on them at Ibrox on Saturday, even as Rangers passed up several chances to kill the game. McInnes can see the confidence creeping back.
He talks about “small steps” and “encouragement” rather than any grand transformation, but he doesn’t pretend the pressure has gone. He knows exactly how this club works: it doesn’t really lift until someone is standing with silverware in their hands.
The timing of Lawrence Shankland’s injury could hardly be worse. Just as the striker found his range, he was forced out, leaving new signing Kevin Kelsy to shoulder responsibility quicker than planned. There will be no gentle bedding-in period if he starts on Wednesday; St Mirren’s centre-backs will make sure of that.
Rangers have edged the last two league meetings with the Paisley club by a single goal, yet it wasn’t long ago that St Mirren went four unbeaten in this fixture. And while Rangers hammered them in the cup last month, this is a different kind of assignment. This time, they face the Premiership manager of the month.
McLeish’s St Mirren out to prove they belong
Craig McLeish’s stock is rising fast. His St Mirren side have started brightly, playing with more fluidity and ambition, and the August award on his mantelpiece underlines how quickly his ideas have taken hold.
He insists he’s not surprised.
There’s a conviction about the way he speaks – about an “internal belief” in what they’re doing, about how it “could have been even better” already – that mirrors the way his team try to play. They were impressive between both boxes against Celtic at the weekend, only a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal denying them a bigger story.
They go to Ibrox without Paul Nsio, whose loan terms prevent him from facing his parent club. His absence matters. Nsio’s bite in midfield was badly missed when Rangers ran riot in the cup tie, and the hosts dominated that area of the pitch. If St Mirren can’t disrupt Rangers’ rhythm in the middle, the visitors could again find themselves penned in and chasing shadows.
Still, they arrive with form, a clear identity and a manager who has already shown he can stand toe-to-toe with the division’s heavyweights. If they leave Govan with their top-three place intact, nobody will be calling it a fluke.
Celtic grind, then glide, as O’Neill reshapes champions
Across the city, Celtic are perfect on the domestic front, even if it hasn’t always looked pretty. The scars from their Champions League qualifying collapse in Austria are still fresh, but at home they’ve simply kept winning while Martin O’Neill quietly reshapes his squad.
The weekend win in Paisley summed them up. St Mirren pushed them, asked questions, and Celtic spent long spells short of their usual fluency. They still found a way. They fell behind, then dug in, then turned the screw.
Yang Hyun-jun lit it up. The winger’s tireless running and decisive finish swung the match, only for him to disappear almost as quickly – off to join South Korea for the Asian Games. His departure forces O’Neill into a rethink just as Yang looked ready to explode into the season.
The obvious move is to hand Sebastian Tounekti a start on the flank. Of the six late-window arrivals, only Tounekti, Shim Mheuka and Oliver Sorensen have seen any action, all from the bench. Tounekti feels like the safe, straight-swap option.
But this is where it gets interesting. Camilo Duran has been on a tear through the middle: three goals and two assists in three games as a centre-forward. Shifting him wide to cover Yang would blunt Celtic’s cutting edge in the most dangerous area of the pitch. If O’Neill keeps Duran central, that opens the door for on-loan Chelsea striker Mheuka to make his first start.
There are more moving parts. Kasper Hogh is edging back to full fitness after a minor lay-off, and Kieran Tierney has returned at left-back, adding experience and balance down that side. The champions suddenly have options everywhere. The challenge now is to turn options into a settled, ruthless unit.
St Johnstone’s fearless home surge
St Johnstone stand in their way at McDiarmid Park, chasing a third straight league win and showing no intention of parking the bus. Simo Valakari wants his side to play, to build through the phases, to keep the ball. He knows what that means against Celtic: risk.
He also knows they’ll need a slice of fortune. He doesn’t hide from it. To beat Celtic, he says, you have to “earn your luck” and then hope the big moments fall your way.
There’s a spark about this Saints team. Three of Josh Fowler’s four goals have come in Perth, where he looks a different animal, feeding off the energy of the home crowd. On the right, local lad Taylor Steven has been whipping in the kind of crosses that make centre-forwards believe every run is worth it.
Behind them, Cheick Diabate and Zach Mitchell form an old-fashioned, uncompromising central defensive pairing. They attack everything in the air, throw themselves in front of shots and relish the physical battle. Yet for all that bravery, St Johnstone still haven’t managed a league clean sheet. Against a Celtic side that rarely need many chances, that’s a concern.
O’Neill hasn’t stood in the away dugout at McDiarmid Park for 25 years, but Celtic don’t have to look that far back for a warning. St Johnstone’s home win over the champions in April 2025 was one of the few bright spots in a season that ended in relegation. They are back, bolder, and far less inclined to simply survive.
So Wednesday offers a fascinating split-screen. In Glasgow, Rangers test their revival against the team above them. In Perth, Celtic defend perfection against a side determined to play their own way.
By Sunday afternoon, when the Old Firm collide in the cup, we’ll know which of them handled the dress rehearsal – and which one has handed the other a psychological edge.
