'Dangerous' for Celtic to expect weakened Rangers - Rodgers

Philippe Clement is still seeking his first win over Celtic's Brendan Rodgers as Rangers boss

Scottish Premiership: Celtic v Rangers

Venue: Celtic Park Date: Sunday, 1 September Time: 12:30 BST

Coverage: Follow live on the BBC Sport website & app and on BBC Sounds; watch highlights on Sportscene

Manager Brendan Rodgers insists it would be "dangerous" for Celtic to think Sunday's visit of Rangers will be anything other than a "tough game".

The reigning champions go into the first Old Firm derby of the season two points ahead of their rivals in the Scottish Premiership after four consecutive wins.

Rangers, who have been forced to play home games at Hampden because of a delay to renovations at Ibrox, lost in Champions League qualifying and boss Philippe Clement has admitted resources have limited his ability to improve his squad.

"I always expect the challenge," Rodgers said. "People can sometimes assume that, when you're doing well and everything's going great, you'll just turn up and win.

"That's a very dangerous way to think and at Celtic we never, ever do that."

Celtic won four and drew one of the meetings between the sides last season, but Rodgers points out that derbies do not always go to form.

"We're in a really, really good place as a team," he said. "But these are different games, emotional games.

"How we've always tried to handle these is to focus on our performance - the players prepared really well all this week."

Celtic received what some have suggested is a kind draw in the new Champions League format, with fixtures against Aston Villa, Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Club Bruges, Dinamo Zagreb, RB Leipzig, Slovan Bratislava and Young Boys.

However, Rodgers rejected that suggestion and said there would be "nothing easy".

"The key thing is not to underestimate and not to assume that, because we're playing Club Bruges, there may be no good players in there, or Red Bull Leipzig," he added.

"Okay, you might not be playing the team that's won it 14 times, but that doesn't mean the other teams aren't very good."

Despite that, Rodgers admitted the draw provides more "confidence" that they can progress to the next stage.

"I think it gives us a really nice opportunity to go make a mark at that level," he said. "That was always what we wanted to be able to do.

"The home games will be equally as tough in different ways to the away games.

"We'll be ready. We'll have the support. The stadium will be absolutely on fire and I cannot wait."