Rangers accused of throwing title away but Celtic icon Kenny Dalglish convinced race not run

Kenny Dalglish is sure there will still be twists and turns in the title run-in this season - even if Rangers have thrown away their advantage.

The Ibrox outfit have chucked points away in crunch games against Celtic, Ross County and Dundee and have allowed two games in hand and the opportunity to go top of the division to slip away.

For Philippe Clement it's been a disastrous few weeks but he'll be praying they can improve to find their way into the Scottish Cup Final with victory in the semi this afternoon against Hearts. That, for Dalglish, could be enough to spur the squad on to continue their battle with the Hoops for the title race in the final fixtures of the campaign.

Albeit the former Celtic attacker feels his old rivals' derby form has been abysmal in recent years.

"Rangers have thrown away the advantage they could have had over Celtic in the race for the Premiership title," he wrote in his Sunday Post column. "In their past three league games, they have taken just two points. With five games to go, they now trail the reigning champions by three points and are five goals worse off. It's all pointing towards Celtic making it three-in-a-row. But I don't think it's a done deal.

"My view is that there is still a title race on and it could very easily go right down to the wire. However, there is no doubt that Rangers need to improve and Philippe Clement needs to find solutions to his problems. He needs to settle on his best attack-minded players and let them go at it.

"Is it Cyriel Dessers or Kemar Roofe? Is the team getting enough from Fabio Silva, Todd Cantwell and Tom Lawrence? Philippe needs to decide who he can trust to deliver success and it starts this afternoon against Hearts. The last thing Rangers need is to lose out in the Scottish Cup semi-final today.

"That would really anger the club's supporters and they would see any form failure today as being a full-blown crisis. The flip side is that a victory at the national stadium would give them a spring back in their step and set them up nicely for the next four weeks. I'm sure Brendan Rodgers would have been delighted at seeing their rivals lose to Ross County last weekend and then draw at Dundee.

"It puts them firmly back in the driving seat and it would seem that as long as they don't lose to Rangers on May 11 then they'll be home and dry. Gers haven't beaten Celtic in a meaningful Old Firm league game since August 2021.

"That's not a record to be proud of. But it doesn't guarantee anything for Brendan and his players next month. They will still need to work really hard and produce something special to win the game. And it's not just about doing a job against Rangers. They will face tough games - especially away to Kilmarnock and Dundee."