Rangers v Celtic live: Old Firm rivals clash in bid to close gap on Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts | OneFootball

Rangers host Celtic in a crucial Old Firm as the title race heats up (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Rangers and Celtic know there is no room for further slip-ups as the Old Firm rivals clash at Ibrox while looking to close the gap on Hearts, the surprise Scottish Premiership leaders.

Hearts extended their advantage at the top of the table to seven points following yesterday’s victory over Aberdeen, leaving the two Glasgow rivals with little margin for error in this dramatic three-way title race.

Both dropped precious points last week as Celtic lost at home to Hibs and Rangers were held to a 2-2 draw by bottom club Livingston. Rangers are two points ahead of Celtic, who have a game in hand.

But time is running out for Martin O’Neill’s side to mount a fightback, as they travel to a Rangers side who are unbeaten at home domestically under Danny Rohl and won the last Old Firm 3-1 at Celtic Park at the turn of the year.

Martin O'Neill hits back at Danny Rohl's 'extraordinary' pre-match comments

After Danny Rohl said it would be “interesting” to see whether Martin O’Neill would pick either Kasper Schmeichel or Viljami Sinisalo for the Old Firm, the Celtic boss hit back by saying the Rangers manager’s comments were “extraordinary”.

"So he's picking our team? Well done, old Danny, well done. He's only in less than a year himself. He'll soon know all about it in the next four or five years,” O’Neill said at a press conference.

"I must sit down here and see if I can find out.... maybe he might have a choice of some players and maybe I could put my oar in there and find out what he's doing.

"Listen, sorry, I have to laugh. He's had a comment about our team, as in the picking of the team? Extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary. He hasn't been in Glasgow long."

(DPA via PA Wire/PA Wire)

Rangers boss Danny Rohl ramps up mind games before facing Celtic

Rangers boss Danny Rohl ramped up the mind games before hosting Celtic by bringing up Martin O’Neill’s decision to drop Kasper Schmeichel for back-up goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo in the 1-0 win at Stuttgart in midweek.

Sinisalo had a fine performance in place of the under-fire Schmeichel, who was one of eight changes and has been struggling for form in recent weeks.

“It will be interesting as well, the goalkeeper position, what he will do now, let's see,” Rohl said.

“I think when you see the line-up from yesterday, the starting line-up, then I expect some changes, it's normal, they try to use the full squad.

"I was a little bit surprised after 1-0 that they're not trying to win this game, 2-0, 3-0, to have a chance. They keep the result until the end.”