Graeme Souness issues Rangers pressure warning ahead of Celtic Park showdown

Graeme Souness believes Rangers will find pressure heaped on them if they lose at Celtic Park on Saturday.

The in-form champions have won all five cinch Premiership fixtures this season and are two points clear of their Ibrox rivals at the top of table, following their 9-0 humiliation of Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side are also on a high after qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in 12 years but their 2-2 draw with Hibs at Easter Road recently has left them already chasing Celtic.

Rangers take on Queen of the South in their Premier Sports Cup last-16 tie at Ibrox on Tuesday night, while Ange Postecoglou’s men travel to Ross County the following evening in the same competition but, after that, the focus will be on Parkhead and the first Old Firm game of the season.

Souness, who was player/manager at Rangers between 1986 and 1991, knows importance of the game and he told talkSPORT: “Both teams are going into it with their tails up.

“No one, me included, expected Rangers to qualify for the Champions League. Their tails are up.

“My experience of working in Scotland is that you could be playing the best football, the best team, but you have drawn a daft game and you are in second spot to, in my case, Celtic.

“All the pressure is on you going forward.

Graeme Souness believes Rangers cannot afford to lose the first Old Firm derby of the season at Celtic Park this Saturday. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

“Celtic, at that time, could be playing not such good football but they are top of the league, they are off and running without any pressure on them.

“So this game is vital, vital because if Rangers were to lose, that would be them five points behind and then all the pressure comes on Rangers’ shoulders.

“Then Celtic could go on not playing very well week to week but as long as they are up there at number one, the pressure is off their shoulders and playing with a bit more freedom.

“This is a big game so early in the season.”

The former Liverpool an