It is fair to say that recent title races in the Scottish Premiership have produced little in the way of drama.
However, that could be about to change as we enter the final four fixtures of the season with Celtic top on 78 points and Rangers in second place on 75 points.
There is a twist to the tale as we have an Old Firm derby to look forward to in the league plus the giants will meet in the Scottish FA Cup at the end of the campaign.
3⃣ champions crowned, 1⃣ to go 🏆📊 The latest standings across the #cinchSPFL pic.twitter.com/9pP1THYUeQ— SPFL (@spfl) April 29, 2024
3⃣ champions crowned, 1⃣ to go 🏆📊 The latest standings across the #cinchSPFL pic.twitter.com/9pP1THYUeQ
Neither Celtic nor Rangers have been overly convincing in the Scottish Premiership this season.
With 4 matches remaining for both teams in the campaign, Celtic have lost 3 and drawn 6 games while Rangers have lost 6 and drawn 3 games.
That means a total of 9 defeats between them in the league this season, 2 more than Celtic and Rangers suffered combined in the previous season and 3 more defeats than the 2021/22 season.
Even in the 2020/21 season campaign, there were only 5 defeats in total for the two team teams, with Celtic accounting for all 5 of those losses.
Due to the format of the Scottish Premiership, Celtic and Rangers will play the top teams in the division in their final 4 fixtures, including each other.
Celtic start with a home game against Hearts, a team who have defeated them twice already this season.
Rangers face Kilmarnock at home, a team who have taken 7 points of Celtic and Rangers combined this season.
So, there is the potential for dropped points for both teams ahead of what is going to be a crucial Old Firm derby on the 11th of May.
If we look back at recent Old Firm derbies, Rangers have recorded just a single victory from their last 10 meetings with Celtic in the Old Firm derby.
You must go back to October 2020 to find the last time Rangers won a league match at Celtic Park and if they go into that game with a 3 point deficit, they will need to come away with a victory to have any chance of winning the title this season.
Having already won the League Cup, Rangers are still in with a chance of landing the treble because when the Scottish Premiership is over, there is the small matter of the Scottish Cup final.
Despite the dominance of the Old Firm in the Scottish Premiership, you must go back to the 2001/02 season to find the last time the Glasgow giants met in the Scottish Cup final.
It was Rangers who came out on top that day. However, there is one statistic that will be a worry for Rangers fans going into the final weeks of the season and that is the record of Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers.
The former Leicester City and Liverpool boss has a 75% win rate in the Old Firm derby. Rodgers has won 12 of the 16 games he has managed for Celtic against Rangers, leaving the Englishman well clear in the managerial statistics.
Could it be the influence of Rodgers that gives Celtic the edge in what will be a thrilling end to the Scottish season.