Rangers v Celtic: The Infirm derby rolls into town for Martin & Rodgers

Both clubs are limping into Sunday, but Celtic at least have the comfort of a six-point cushion at the top of the Premiership. They’ve only had to be half-decent in establishing that lead.

They’ve been okay and nothing more. By contrast, Rangers have been awful. They’ve had three 1-1 draws against Motherwell, Dundee and St Mirren and they’ve been fortunate along the way.

Their defending has been such an abomination that Celtic, with no dependable striker but with a point to prove, could potentially run amok. The Rangers midfield has been a disorganised mess and the farrago around Nico Raskin continues.

Martin tied himself in knots on Friday when dealing with a volley of questions on his relationship with Raskin and whether the midfielder will be in his squad for Sunday. No, would appear to be the answer.

The other day, Belgium manager Rudi Garcia named Raskin in his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan. So, Raskin is deemed good enough to be in an international squad with stellar names from Napoli, Arsenal, AC Milan, Aston Villa, Brugge and Brighton, but, for whatever reason, his face doesn’t fit at Rangers?

On top of everything else the Rangers attack has had little bite. Opta’s “big chance” stats show that St Mirren matched Rangers 3-3 on that front, Dundee matched them 1-1 and Motherwell did them 4-1. Miovski needs to change all of that.

The manager, Russell Martin, is asking for time to put things right but all the time in the world might not be sufficient. Seasoned observers of the Rangers scene will tell you that the toxicity around him is probably unparalleled.

Rangers folk have counted the managers in and they’ve counted them out again and their patience has gone. Martin, an unpopular choice in the eyes of many fans, needed to hit the ground running. Instead, he’s hit the ground and fallen over.

The owners of the club will be at Ibrox on Sunday. The Rangers support will surely see that as an opportunity to send them a message, pre-match. If Martin’s team then go on to lose the game, that message will become ever more vicious. It’ll be a nine-point gap between them and Celtic at that point. After four games? It’s a grisly thought.

Jack Butland, a Rangers beacon amid the darkness, spoke on Friday, the goalkeeper given the hospital pass of a media conference. He was a sensible choice in that he is a rare thing – a Rangers player in form. Butland has been exceptional.

“There’s one thing that I’ve learned in football,” he said, “and it’s that if you down tools, you give up, nothing can work. You stick together, you fight, you give yourself a chance.”