Rangers assistant manager David Weir ready to tackle Celtic

Parkhead will be full and super-charged for the first Ladbrokes Premiership meeting between the sides in four years.

The clubs met in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final last season, when the Ibrox men won on penalties, but there will almost certainly be players from both sides making their debuts in the fixture.

Weir, who had four and a half years in the Rangers defence after signing in 2007, believes all those wearing blue will handle the occasion.

“We are looking forward to this game, everyone is talking about it.

“This game is important, it stands alone as a fixture, but you have to treat it the same way as you would other matches.

“We preach to the players to be in control and make the right decisions at the right time so it’s obviously heightened in this game for obvious reasons.

“But we trust the players to do the right things and to handle the football side and the emotional side of it.”

Celtic are one point ahead of the Govan club at the top of the table with a game in hand and will be favourites to extend that lead.

However, the former Scotland defender believes Rangers can take heart from the win over their city rivals at Hampden Park.

He said: “The last one was at a neutral venue at Hampden but we’ve got good memories of that game and the players take great confidence from winning it - albeit that it was on penalties - but on the day we played well and I felt we deserved to win.”

Weir will work with manager Mark Warburton to come up with a plan to keep the Hoops subdued while offering a threat going forward.

“I think we’re looking at both aspects of the game,” said the 46-year-old,.

“Obviously we are giving Celtic respect as they have talented players both offensively and defensively, there’s no doubt about that.”