Scott Arfield says 'this is Scottish football' as Rangers aim to amp up title heat on Celtic before December derby

Scott Arfield believes resurgent Rangers can change the dynamic of the cinch Premiership title race if they are able to keep their foot to the floor through the festive period.
By PA Sport
Published 12th Dec 2023, 12:00 BST
Scott Arfield following full-time for Rangers during the cinch Scottish Premiership match against Heart of Midlothian at Ibrox in May. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)Scott Arfield following full-time for Rangers during the cinch Scottish Premiership match against Heart of Midlothian at Ibrox in May. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Scott Arfield following full-time for Rangers during the cinch Scottish Premiership match against Heart of Midlothian at Ibrox in May. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The Ibrox side chopped Celtic’s advantage at the summit from eight points to five over the weekend after Brendan Rodgers’ side suffered their first league defeat of the campaign away to Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Rangers also have a game in hand, while they visit the Hoops on 30 December in what is shaping up to be a pivotal derby showdown.

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Former Ibrox midfielder Scott Arfield is confident his old club can continue their strong form under Phillipe Clement and crank up the heat on their bitter rivals in the coming weeks.

“If you looked at it two or three months ago, you wouldn’t have thought this could happen but this is Scottish football, this is what it throws up,” said Arfield, who was promoting Viaplay’s live and exclusive coverage of Sunday’s Viaplay Cup final between Rangers and Aberdeen.

“If you read everything everybody was saying, the league was already done but it’s proving to be very different to that. It’s all about winning the games and setting up a massive game on the 30th at Parkhead.”

Celtic looked on course to cruise to the title earlier in the season, a situation that led to Rangers sacking Michael Beale and replacing him with Clement.

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Arfield feels that a Viaplay Cup final victory over Aberdeen this Sunday can give the Ibrox side – who have taken 25 points from a possible 27 since Beale’s departure – further impetus to challenge for the title.

“If they win the cup on Sunday, that could give them a real boost,” he said. “Then they go to Celtic Park on the 30th of this month and, anything could happen, you could potentially go top of the league.

“That would be a huge boost and it’s well within their capabilities to do so. Everybody knows how good Celtic are but if they can get it down to two points, you can certainly get momentum with it.”

“It’s encouraging that they’re picking up results, especially with the number of injuries they’ve got to key players. Obviously they had a mishap (1-1 draw) up at Aberdeen but I think they should be encouraged by the form they’ve got since the new manager came in.

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“It seems like they’re going for it now and getting back to where they should be. And then when they get more players coming back from injury, that could certainly propel them into really trying to win that title.”

Scott Arfield was promoting Viaplay’s live and exclusive coverage of Rangers v Aberdeen in the Viaplay Cup Final. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.

Related topics:CelticIbroxAberdeen