Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has tried to play down his team’s seven-point lead over Rangers in the Scottish Premiership table.

The Australian doesn’t believe anyone can come to a fair conclusion about the outcome of the title race at this stage of the season, and he is keen for everyone at the club to maintain their current levels:

“I was pretty consistent last year in saying that looking at a table and trying to predict the outcome at this stage is just ludicrous. Yeah, we’re seven points ahead, but we were four points behind a year ago and won the league by four points. So, nothing changes. It’s not because I’m dismissive of it. Obviously, we are in a strong position, but we need to push on. Because, even though there’s been a lot of games, the reality of it is we are only a third of the way through the season. The majority of it is still to come. We’ve got to make sure we keep going. We’ve had a really strong start, but the key to us is improving through the season and making an even stronger finish and the rest will take care of itself.”

Postecoglou is understandably trying to keep peoples’ feet on the ground. While their Glasgow rivals seem to be in turmoil at the moment, there is still a sizeable number of matches remaining.

The Hoops will have 23 fixtures still to play when club football resumes after the World Cup next month and there could be a lot of twists and turns in terms of results.

Having said all that, though, Celtic have to be firm favourites to retain the title, considering their excellent form, and we shall see if they can go into the mid-season break on a high with games coming up versus Motherwell and Ross County.