Ex-Hearts man in blunt assessment of Rangers and Aberdeen's title bids as Celtic star's form is questioned
The latest news from across the Premiership after the title race took further twists and turns in recent days.
Rangers and Aberdeen have been told they ‘never had a chance’ of catching Premiership leaders Celtic after events of Boxing Day swung the title race firmly in favour of the reigning champions.
Brendan Rodgers’ men more than played their part as Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda, Nicolas Kuhn and Reo Hatate all netted in a 4-0 home win against Motherwell. There were two late Christmas presents for the Hoops after both Rangers and Aberdeen suffered defeats in a combination of results that left Celtic sat 12 points clear at the top of the table ahead of Sunday’s home game with St Johnstone.
Aberdeen, who made a blistering start to the season that now seems long in the past, suffered a 4-0 loss at Kilmarnock as goals from Kyle Vassell, David Watson, Innes Cameron and Bruce Anderson ensured Jimmy Thelin’s men emerged pointless from their visit to Rugby Park. It was a grim Boxing Day for Rangers as they contrived to throw away a point after Danilo had cancelled out an Oisin Smyth penalty in what would become a 2-1 defeat at St Mirren. Philippe Clement’s side looked on their way to earning a share of the points - but they were left with none as Caolan Boyd-Munce grasped the points for the Buddies with a winning goal in the third minute of injury-time.
Former Hibs and Hearts midfielder Stewart reflected on the events of Boxing Day and delivered a typically honest and open assessment of the current state of Aberdeen and Rangers’ title bids.
As per the Daily Record, he told BBC Sportsround: "They never had a chance of catching Celtic, but now if Aberdeen remember how to win games, they could be in trouble. That first half performance is what's killed Rangers. They're losing this game tonight because their first half was so poor."
Former Hoops goalkeeper unimpressed with Celtic striker
Pat Bonner believes Brendan Rodgers was unimpressed with Adam Idah’s performance in Celtic’s 4-0 win against Motherwell.
The Republic of Ireland international made a positive impact when he joined Celtic on loan from Norwich City in January and his performances earned him a permanent move to the reigning Premiership champions. Idah has scored eight goals in 24 appearances during his first full season with the Hoops - but he left former Celtic favourite Bonner unimpressed with his performance against the Bairns.
He told BBC Sport: “I don’t think Brendan Rodgers is impressed there with Adam Idah. He gave the ball away on the edge of the Motherwell defence. When you can go to the bench and you can bring on three players who would be normally starters, then you are probably right in your explanation about it going up a standard. Brendan has been able to get some of these players some game time, which is important and assess them. Adam Idah also coming off. Yang coming off. Bernardo, the other one. The other three coming on, they certainly wouldn’t drop the intensity. They certainly maybe increase it.”