Scottish Premiership: What did we learn from the weekend fixtures?

Sportscene pundit Steven Thompson's team of the week

As we approach the Scottish Premiership split teams continue to jostle for position, particularly down the bottom and in the race for third.

Celtic, seemingly cruising to a ninth-straight title, racked up another handsome victory while Rangers recovered at Ross County.

BBC Scotland gives you one takeaway from each side after a weekend of re-discovering form, worrying trends and intense pressure.

Griffiths back with a bang

Celtic's relentless march to a ninth consecutive title continued, with St Mirren the latest team to be swotted aside in clinical fashion to quickly get their winning juggernaut back on track after the midweek blip of a draw away to Livingston.

The big talking point was the re-emergence of Leigh Griffiths not only as a Celtic first choice but a starter for Scotland. The 29-year-old, whose 2019 was dogged by personal problems that limited his appearances and form, was back to close to his best as he recorded a hat-trick just in time to state his case for a start in Sunday's Old Firm derby away to Rangers and in Scotland's Euro 2020 play-off semi-final at home to Israel later this month.

• Griffiths hat-trick sends Scotland message - Lennon

Huge week for Rangers

It wasn't pretty, but after three domestic games without a win and three players injured in the hours before the 1-0 victory at Ross County, any win will do for Rangers.

It was a positive start to a huge week for the club, with Bayer Leverkusen visiting Ibrox on Thursday in the Europa League, while Celtic are looking to all but seal their ninth consecutive league title when they travel across the city on Sunday.

Rangers have handled these big games before - winning in Europe has become a regularity, while Gerrard has three Old Firm wins on his record. But never have they gone into these games under such pressure, with players' characters being questioned and suggestions some do not have the mettle to play for Rangers.

There's only one way to prove the critics wrong. Gerrard will learn this week who can be relied on to produce as he inevitably begins to plan ahead for next season.

• Rangers suffer triple injury blow

Third-place race heats up

Motherwell secured a top-six place with just a point at Tynecastle - but Stephen Robinson will know his side are on the cusp of achieving something so much more.

Aberdeen's place in Europe is under threat by the Lanarkshire club, and despite being unable to take all three points at Tynecastle, the spark that has been missing in some of their recent games was certainly there.

Christopher Long came close to adding a second goal on numerous occasions, while Newcastle loanee Rolando Aarons ran rings around Aaron Hickey - who has been excellent this season - for much of the game.

Losing James Scott in January has been a blow Motherwell have struggled to recover from, but if they can build on this performance and if a little luck is with them on their crucial Friday the 13th matchup against the Dons, they will once more be in pole position for that final European spot.

McGinn can still turn it on

Niall McGinn's form since starting his second spell at Aberdeen two years ago has been up and down but there were flashes of the old McGinn in the Dons' comeback win against Hibernian.

The Northern Ireland winger was involved in all three goals with his deliveries causing Hibs all sorts of problems. Should Derek McInnes's side go on to seal a European place or even a trophy in the Scottish Cup, McGinn has shown he can play a big role.

Holt rues Saints pitch as Livi squander chances

Gary Holt lamented the "terrible" state of the McDiarmid Park pitch, but once he gets into the video analysis of his side's 1-0 defeat to the Perth side, he might be more concerned by the lack of chances created by his strikers.

Lyndon Dykes was anonymous, and the visitors' only two clear chances fell to Steven Lawless. Livingston now have just two wins in their last 30 away trips in the league.

What has been an excellent season might have been even better had their away form not been so atrocious.

Hibs facing up to mid-table mediocrity

It was not a good week for Hibernian as they followed a home defeat by Edinburgh rivals Hearts with their 3-1 loss at Aberdeen, despite taking the lead.

Steven Whittaker's red card for two bookings while Hibs were 1-0 up proved to be the turning point, and fifth or sixth appears to be the best head coach Jack Ross can hope for as far as the league is concerned.

Indeed, Hibs have a job to hold off seventh-placed St Johnstone and need to get back to winning ways to boost confidence going into the Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts.

• Aberdeen beat 10-man Hibs

'Unprofessional' Kilmarnock

Within four days, Kilmarnock have put in two good performances but picked up only one point, leaving their hopes of reaching the top six hanging by a thread.

On Wednesday, they allowed a two-goal lead at home to Aberdeen slip. Then, against Hamilton they had most of the possession and chances, but failed to sparkle in the final third before being hit by a late sucker punch. Coming to the business end of the season, that sort of slackness is unforgiveable, and manager Alex Dyer said as much after the game.

"The boys were unprofessional," said Dyer. "Hamilton went down to 10 men, we had control and a lot of chances but not being clinical, and then we let them in from some rash play.

"We've had good opportunities. We played well in parts of the game. It's unprofessional that we've given them a sniff and at this level you get punished."

• 10-man Hamilton stun Kilmarnock

May shown how it's done by youngster Hendry

Tommy Wright may be left scratching his head when it comes to striking options for the run-in to the split, after his side beat Livingston 1-0 on Saturday.

Stevie May continues to put promising performances in, bursting down the channels and finding spaces in behind defenders.

But with just six goals in 24 appearances and just a solitary league goal for Chris Kane this term, the Saints boss will be hoping Callum Hendry can continue to show the positional nous he displayed to net the winner against the Perth side's top-six targets.

After the match, the Northern Irishman said he'd like to see Hendry play through the middle more. With finishes like that from the middle of the six-yard box, you can see why.

Crunch time for County

It must be infuriating being a Ross County fan. Victory over Livingston followed by a heavy defeat to Hibernian. A morale-boosting win at Pittodrie before a confidence-crushing hammering at Motherwell.

Against Rangers, we saw both versions. For 45 minutes they offered little. Thankfully for them, neither did Rangers. But after half-time County had their chances to win the game. They spurned those chances and were punished, and it won't have gone unnoticed that they failed where their relegation rivals Hamilton and Hearts both succeeded in beating Rangers within the past week.

The rest of their eight fixtures pre and post split will all be against bottom six opposition, with the next three all against sides lower than them in the table. They will be allowed a slip up against Rangers, but not in the eight cup finals coming their way.

Worrying trend for Buddies

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin will prefer to look on their hammering at Celtic Park in isolation. The Premiership leaders can fire five goals past most teams in the Scottish top-flight on their day. However, the longer-term trend will no doubt also have caught his attention.

In the last 11 games, they have only beaten one side - Motherwell, in the Scottish Cup and league - and have failed to score in their latest three outings. Hamilton's win over Kilmarnock means the Paisley outfit have dropped to second bottom of the table and are just three ahead of an improving Hearts team they host on Wednesday in what could be a season defining showdown.

On-form Hamilton enjoy dream week

On Tuesday night, Hearts may have thought they were one step towards survival as they leapfrogged Hamilton at the bottom.

Within 24 hours Hamilton had usurped them in the Premiership table after shocking Rangers at Ibrox and, by Saturday night, they had created a four-point gap after seeing off Kilmarnock despite two early injuries and a red card. In turn, they also leapfrogged St Mirren.

After conceding three in 45 minutes against Aberdeen, they have now gone four-and-a-half games with just two goals against them. Three clean sheets in a row, four without defeat, and back-to-back wins for the first time in two years.

Hamilton have found their form at the right time while their rivals around them struggle for consistency.

Hearts need to stamp out defensive errors

Hearts have gone toe-to-toe with some tough opponents in recent weeks. Rangers, Hibs and Motherwell all have loftier ambitions for their league campaign than Hearts' goal of survival.

Instead of holding on for a point, the Tynecastle club were going for the win against third-placed Motherwell in the closing stages of Saturday's match. Despite being three adrift, signs are encouraging - although defensive frailties remain a thorn in head coach Daniel Stendel's side.

Despite good work from Christopher Long, Craig Halkett's lack of concentration in conceding possession for Motherwell's opener had Hearts having to fight their way back.

With a crucial away match against St Mirren on Wednesday, they'll need to take the positives from this string of good performances - and probably make sure they put themselves out of sight so defensive errors won't cost them.