Rangers

Rangers defender Adam Devine, out of contract in the summer, is being looked at by West Bromwich Albion and could be available for a small fee. (Alan Nixon - subscription), external

With Scotland full-back Nathan Patterson eager to secure a loan move away from Goodison Park amid speculation over a return to Rangers, Everton are preparing to submit an official offer for Galatasaray defender Elias Jelert. (Tavkim via Daily Record, external)

Read the rest of Sunday's Scottish gossip.

Image source, SNS

Robin Propper says Rangers' impressive victory against Celtic will only matter if they can produce that level of performance consistently.

The Dutch defender scored Rangers' second goal in the 3-0 win at Ibrox, which narrowed Celtic's lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to 11 points.

The result came as something of a shock given Celtic's domestic form and that Rangers went into the game off the back of a defeat at St Mirren and a draw at Motherwell.

Philippe Clement's side were also without several key players - James Tavernier, Jack Butland, Leon Balogun and John Souttar all missed the game/

"That was a big game, so everybody wants to step up," Propper said.

"Everybody wants to take another level, and especially if you see that James is away, Jack is away, John and Leon are away.

"Then everybody wants to be better and help each other. But I think the quality is there.

"We have a really good team and we have to show it every time and that is the hard part. We try to do that and I think we can and this was a game where you have seen that we can do a lot.

"I think that's the key, to be consistent. These kind of games are different than maybe away games at St Mirren or Motherwell. So you have to adjust every time in that kind of game.

"Of course, the key is consistency because you have seen in this game, we can win 3-0 over Celtic but the last time we had a draw at Motherwell so we need to be consistent in what we do and to win every game."

Image source, SNS

Hibernian expect to have Elie Youan back following a foot injury, while fellow forward Mykola Kuharevich and midfielder and captain Joe Newell face fitness checks after missing recent matches with groin issues.

Marvin Ekpiteta and Kieron Bowie are still out.

Rangers captain James Tavernier remains on the sidelines beside fellow defenders John Souttar and Neraysho Kasanwirjo.

Goalkeeper Jack Butland and centre-half Leon Balogun are unlikely to return, while midfielder Tom Lawrence continues his return to fitness.

Young defender Robbie Fraser was a substitute against Celtic on Thursday but has since joined Livingston on loan.

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

Hibernian head coach David Gray and Rangers counterpart Philippe Clement go into Sunday's early kick-off looking to continue the momentum that has eased some of the pressure that was mounting over their respective futures.

Thursday's 1-1 draw away to bottom side St Johnstone was not particularly impressive, but it came on the back of four straight wins that have lifted Hibs off the foot of the table, into seventh place and back in the hunt for European qualification.

Second-top Rangers, meanwhile, arrive at Easter Road buoyed by a stunning 3-0 derby win over leaders Celtic.

Considering the reigning champions are still 11 points clear of their city rivals, it has not exactly reignited a title race, but at least it gave a signal that Clement's side have more potential than the previous one win in five had suggested.

Hibs have suffered only one defeat in their latest six at home - and are unbeaten in their latest three - while Rangers have shed points on their past two games away from Ibrox.

However, the Glasgow side are unbeaten in 13 visits to Easter Road, winning eight of those - their joint-longest run against the Leith outfit.

Indeed, overall, Hibs have lost eight games in a row against Rangers since a 2-2 draw at Easter Road in August 2022 - one short of their worst ever losing streak against the Ibrox side.

That is the only time Hibs have avoided defeat in 11 meetings since their 3-1 Scottish League Cup semi-final win at Hampden in November 2021.

Rangers have conceded just one goal - and scored 13 - in the latest five meetings between the sides and their fans will be expecting their team to build on their Old Firm excellence despite Hibs' recent revival.

Of course, with some fans and pundits blaming Clement's rotation policy for his side's inconsistency, much of the spotlight will be on whether the Belgian this time sticks with what appears to be a winning formula.

Image source, SNS

• Hibernian have lost each of their last eight meetings with Rangers in all competitions; only in November 1999 and January 2004 have Hibs ever lost more in a row to the Gers (both runs of nine).

• Rangers are unbeaten in 13 visits to Hibernian in all competitions (W8 D5), their joint-longest ever such run away to Hibs (also 13 in a row from March 2007 to December 2011).

• Hibernian have won both of their last two home league games, as many as their previous 11 beforehand (W2 D4 L5).

• Rangers have only lost one of their last nine league games (W6 D2), keeping six clean sheets in this period.

• Only Adam Idah (four) has scored more goals as a substitute in the Scottish Premiership this season than Rangers' Danilo (three) and Hibernian's Dwight Gayle (three). Danilo has scored in both of his last two substitute appearances in the competition, while Gayle has scored twice in his last three from the bench.

Rangers will miss out on a £4m windfall for Jose Cifuentes after Greek club Aris decided against making the 25-year-old midfielder's loan deal permanent following a change of manager and the Ecuador international will return to Ibrox this summer. (Daily Record), external

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has suggested that a few incomings could happen during the January transfer window. (The Herald), external

Former Leicester City manager Steve Cooper is one of four candidates in the running to replace Philippe Clement should he lose his job at Rangers, with Kilmarnock's Derek McInnes interested and ex-Ibrox players Kevin Muscat and Russell Martin also heavily linked. (Football Insider), external

Read Saturday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

Ianis Hagi savoured his "special" first goal against Celtic in front of dad Gheorghe at Ibrox after reviving his Rangers career.

The Romania midfielder was on loan at Spanish side Alaves last season and was playing for the Rangers B team at the start of this campaign due to a contract issue which has been subsequently resolved.

Having fought back into favour, Hagi returned from illness to shine in an under-strength Rangers team that blew Celtic away 3-0 to reduce the gap at the top of the Premiership to 11 points.

"It's definitely special," said the 26-year-old. "It just shows, it's not just in my case, just in general, football players around the world, young kids coming out from academies, football is not just all fun and it will all go perfect.

"It's part of a football player's career and as long as they respect football, they love what they do and they train 100% no matter the situation, things will, somewhere or the other, it will sort out for them.

"I'm obviously an example of that recently but I've been through situations, even though I'm 26, it's probably my 10th or 11th season at a senior level.

"I've been captain of the team when I was 16, 17, I'm one of the captains of the national team, so I've been through a lot and thankfully I'm mature enough to understand certain situations in football and the business part of it, so it's just purely about people understanding that this is football and you have to respect it and love it and that football will definitely give you that.

"Having my family, not just my dad, here with me for the past few days - a few days ago I wasn't able to get out of bed, I was really sick, couldn't help the team, and then just football kind of sorts things out.

"It was the right afternoon for me, for myself, for the team, everything clicked."

Image source, SNS

Rangers defender Robbie Fraser has joined Livingston on loan for the rest of the season.

The 21-year-old made his Rangers debut in the final game of last season and has featured four times off the bench this term, most recently in Thursday's Old Firm derby win.

We asked for your views on Rangers' 3-0 derby win against Celtic at Ibrox.

Here's what some of you said:

Gary: Sitting at work and getting the early Ianis Hagi goal alert come through was a shock, then I turn on the radio and listen to us utterly dominating with our front five outstanding in front of our makeshift backline. A great performance but the team must back it up and continue at this standard for the rest of the season and beyond.

David: The manager should look at this and wonder why he has been playing poor players like James Tavernier and Cyriel Dessers.

Matthew: It was everything we've been crying out for: passionate, driven, efficient and simply the best! We made Celtic look extremely poor: pressing and interceptions were the backbone of our intensity and it paid off big time. Nicolas Raskin and Hagi were outstanding - how we've missed Hagi!

Margaret: Where has this team been? What a performance from every single player. I came to Ibrox fearing the worst but hoping for the best! So delighted, but disappointed with our latest performances at St Mirren and Motherwell. We need to push on from this, won't win the league but need to show what we are capable of.

Robert: This is a result Rangers need to build on. For once the whole team played well. The aggression and intensity which was sadly lacking in the last two games was there in abundance. Seeing the teamsheet before the start you feared the worst. Now they need to be more consistent. One victory doesn't make the season any better.

Chris: Well here we are in fantasy island again. A brilliant display from the team yet I can't help but wonder what the next slip-up is going to be. It would be nice to see an unchanged team for the next few matches to see if consistency is achievable.

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

Ridvan Yilmaz: Was deployed out of position at right-back in the Old Firm derby triumph and played an absolute blinder.

Ianis Hagi: His quality shone through at Ibrox. Opened the scoring with a pinpoint swerving shot and made quality decisions throughout. Wonder what his watching father made of it?

Vaclav Cerny: The Czech winger was a constant menace to the Celtic backline. Unlucky not to score as he rattled the woodwork twice.

"Phenomenal" Nicolas Raskin is now showing the form that prompted Rangers to sign him and the Belgian has improved the whole team since recovering from injury, says Scottish football analyst and coach John Walker.

Listen to all the derby reaction on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast

Image source, SNS

Robin Propper's first goal as a Rangers player could hardly have come at a better time.

With the dominant Ibrox side leading Celtic by Ianis Hagi's early goal, the Dutch defender gave his team breathing space by forcing home to double the advantage midway through the second half.

Ibrox erupted - and the noise only cranked up further when Danilo rounded off a first Old Firm derby win in eight meetings.

Propper has endured a turbulent first few months at Rangers since his move from FC Twente but was part of a rock-solid makeshift defence that shut out Celtic.

"We had the feeling we could win this game and everyone was on their toes, dug in, and it was a really nice team performance," the 31-year-old told Rangers TV.

"It's always good [to get a clean sheet] as a defender in a game like this. We defended and attacked together, and we had a great block in the middle.

"We won a lot of balls where they played wrong and we were on top of it. That was the most important thing."

Propper revelled in the electric Ibrox atmosphere and revealed his goal was straight off the training ground.

"We worked on [my goal] yesterday in training and we said 'Okay, maybe I can get one-versus-one in the back zone', so you hope for a ball there," he added.

"In the end Nico [Raskin] headed it first and it came right to my feet. You then have to be sure it goes in the goal and luckily it did, so it was a really nice feeling.

"We played very well and the stadium went absolutely crazy.

"This was the noise that I wanted to hear and it was nice to score a goal of course. At 3-0, I was looking around slightly for the first time to the experience it really well."

Image source, SNS

Nicolas Raskin says it was "unfair" that Celtic captain Callum McGregor avoided a second yellow card for their tussle in Rangers' 3-0 derby win at Ibrox.

McGregor was on a booking when he became embroiled in a scuffle with stand-in Rangers skipper Raskin on the stroke of half-time, with the hosts leading 1-0. The pair grabbed hold of each other, although McGregor appeared to be far less aggressive.

Referee Don Robertson opted to only book Raskin, who later said: "I just didn't understand. McGregor and me, we had some contact.

"I think the referee wanted to book us both, but then looked at him and remembered he had a yellow and then just booked me.

"So it was a bit unfair for me, because if you book me, you have to book him. We've both done the same thing. So it's just a bit weird.

"I was calm. I was just explaining to the ref that it's unfair, because if you want to book, you book both players, you don't book one and not the other one.

"The ref explained to me that he just didn't really see but then you book no one, or you book both."

Image source, SNS

• Rangers have beaten Celtic for the first time in the Premiership since 13 May 2023, a run of five games without a win.

• Celtic attempted four shots in this game, their lowest total in a single match in the Premiership this season.

• Rangers' 24 shots is the highest tally Celtic have faced in a league game since the Scottish top flight was rebranded in 2013-14.

• Ianis Hagi scored his first goal in the Premiership this season, netting for the first time since 21 May 2023 against Hibernian.

• Celtic ended the game with an xG of just 0.07, while Rangers had an xG of 2.13.

• Danilo has contributed to goals in his last four home games in the Premiership (two goals, two assists).

The Scottish press is claiming Ryan Kent, a free agent since Fenerbahce ripped up his contract, has been offered a six-month contract with the option of a one-year extension by Rangers and the 27-year-old winger is keen on a return to Ibrox. (Kontraspor), external

Rangers, Club Brugge and AZ Alkmaar have shown interest in 22-year-old Varazdin defensive midfielder Leon Belcar, who is valued at £660,000 and whose contract runs until 2026, after a good autumn in Croatia's top flight. (24 Sata), external

Rangers will only benefit financially from their new kit deal if they sell more replica shirts, because current supplier Castore has acquired the rights to be the exclusive sub-licence holder to new supplier Umbro in the UK. (Football Insider), external

Read Friday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Image source, Getty Images

Manager Philippe Clement says Rangers' 3-0 Old Firm win over Celtic shows his side are "on the right track".

Match report: Rangers 3-0 Celtic

Were you at Ibrox or following the match elsewhere?

Either way, we want your views on Rangers' derby win over Celtic - have your say here, external.

Image source, SNS

Rangers manager Philippe Clement to Sky Sports: "Very good. The boys get the reward they deserved, what they did not get in the last few weeks, in the League Cup final and the last two games also.

"Things were not on our side. Even with injuries and changing a lot, everyone in the squad is working hard to get better and better. This is proof of that. We need to continue like this for the next couple of months.

"Nico [Raskin] was not ready for captaincy a few months ago. But he is taking steps. The more captains you have, the better your team is.

"It is a very important win. It gives belief to fans and everyone following Rangers. This new squad is building, there is a lot of potential in it and we will work hard to make it better. That is my job to do, and my mission, also."