Scrap for second heats up, focus on McCowan & Kettlewell

Is the title race over in early December?

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers certainly isn't having any of that talk, but his team have established a very handy lead at the top.

The champions' only domestic slip has been a home draw with Aberdeen that they avenged at Pittodrie on Wednesday.

Celtic may be overwhelming favourites to finish on top for the 13th time in 14 years, but there are plenty of other sub-plots in the Scottish Premiership.

Games of the weekend: Aberdeen v St Johnstone (Sat 15:00) & Ross County v Rangers (Sun 12:00)

With Celtic disappearing over the horizon, attention turns to the next best in the standings.

Aberdeen have stumbled in recent weeks, allowing Rangers to make up ground. The gap is four points with the Ibrox side having a game in hand.

Jimmy Thelin made a near-supernatural start as Dons manager, going all the way to November before tasting defeat. Aberdeen followed that League Cup semi-final crushing by Celtic with a handsome home win over Dundee but have lost two and drawn two in the league since.

So how will the Swede respond? In much the same unflappable way, most likely. And there is no sense of despondency after a gutsy display in the 1-0 midweek loss to the leaders on the back of battling draws away to the two Edinburgh clubs.

Thelin's first taste of the Premiership was a 2-1 success at St Johnstone and home fans will be confident of a repeat at Pittodrie, where the Dons had won seven from seven before they were edged out by Celtic.

However, Saints did take four points from the first two of three visits to the north east last season and have not lost successive league matches away to Aberdeen since March 2018.

Rangers have now displaced Aberdeen at the top of the home form table - and did so in style, hitting Kilmarnock for six.

A front four including Danilo, Hamza Igamane and Ianis Hagi really clicked on Wednesday, but those three have not had much football of late and Philippe Clement may consider rotation for Sunday, with Tottenham Hotspur coming to Ibrox next week.

Rangers also put six past Ross County in their last meeting in Glasgow, but only Celtic and Aberdeen have left Dingwall with maximum points this season - and both needed late goals.

County are aiming for back-to-back home wins over Rangers too, having got the better of the visitors for the first time in 25 attempts in April.

Toiling on their domestic travels has been a recent theme for Rangers, who picked up just their second away win of the term against St Johnstone last weekend thanks to an own goal. In those six league road trips, they have scored three and conceded six.

Clement needs to build momentum and Thelin needs to get back on track for what promises to be an intriguing contest to hang on to the leaders' coattails.

Player to watch: Luke McCowan (Celtic)

Despite making just three starts for Celtic since his deadline-day move from Dundee, Luke McCowan has made quite a splash.

The 26-year-old midfielder has three goals and three assists in the Premiership and stole the show in last weekend's big win over Ross County.

He was back among the substitutes on Wednesday but came on to help his side get over the line at a stormy Pittodrie.

Having earned rave reviews for recent displays, and with a Champions League visit to Dinamo Zagreb looming, the former Ayr United man may well add to his starts at home to Hibs on Saturday.

Of course, Hibs had hoped to smash their transfer record to sign McCowan before Celtic turned up late to flex their muscle and it would not be a surprise to see him dish out a reminder of what the visitors' missed out on.

Manager in spotlight: Stuart Kettlewell (Motherwell)

Motherwell are on a sequence of three successive defeats – all to teams who were below them in the table, prior to kick-off at least. Now comes a visit to St Mirren, who lurk one point behind in seventh place.

Stuart Kettlewell's side have shipped seven goals to Hibs and Dundee in the past two outings and their last clean sheet came on the opening weekend of the Premiership season at the start of August.

Will the manager be tempted to change things at the back, or will he keep the faith for this often low-scoring rivalry?

We've only had two goals across the last three meetings between these two in Paisley, while there hasn't been more than two goals in this fixture in the PA3 post code since a 3-0 win for Motherwell in December 2019.

Rather than worry about formations, Kettlewell's biggest concern may be the mindset of his players, who folded in the face of adversity at Dens Park after such a meek display at home to Hibs.

Motherwell have form for drifting on poor runs - going 15 without a league victory last season, while the previous campaigns brought winless runs of 11, 11 and 12, so Kettlewell will be anxious to stop the rot setting in.