Philippe Clement hails Rangers 'perfect scenario' in Hibs win as rampant side threaten to score 'five or six'

Philippe Clement reckons Hibs were fortunate not to leave Glasgow on the receiving end of a heavy defeat as Rangers regained their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.

The Light Blues cruised to a 3-1 victory at Ibrox, with James Tavernier and Cyriel Dessers on target either side of Myziane Maolida's equaliser before substitute Rabbi Matondo settled any lingering nerves by curling home a decisive third goal in the closing stages.

The result moved Rangers above Celtic, who take on basement boys Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena on Sunday, ahead of next weekend's vital Glasgow derby showdown in Govan. And Clement was delighted with his his players performance level following the international break as he attempted to play down the importance of the victory.

The Belgian admits he isn't fazed by the how the league table looks at present and reckons the final scoreline flattered Hibs, who registered just one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.

In response to being asked how good it feels to return to the Premiership summit, Clement told BBC Sportsound: "Is it? It's nothing to do with that. It is a good feeling to play again after a couple of weeks without games and to win again. It is all about that, and to have a very convincing performance with a lot of good football, good goals and a tremendous atmosphere in the stadium.

"I'm satisfied with a lot of things; the goals, the way we dominated Hibs with and without the ball, not giving away many chances, They only had one shot on target. A pity that it's a goal. We could have scored four, five or six today. We scored four, but we were unlucky with Scott that he was just inches with his foot already in the 18 yards at that moment. "It's very important also that I had the ability to give minutes to players who came out of injury or who didn't play so much, like Barisic, Matondo, Sima, Wright, Cantwell, Lawrence, Sterling... there's a lot. It was a puzzle before the game to see who starts and ends the game so it was a perfect scenario in this way."

Clement remained coy about the prospect of facing Celtic in a potentially season-defining clash next weekend when quizzed on how important it was to move two points ahead of their title rivals, who face Livingston on Sunday.

He continued: "It doesn't matter what our position is. Ok, it is the Old Firm and it's an important game for the title but it's not the decisive game. It is not the last game. So, we are going to be focused like we have been doing all of these months and focus on the performances. Out of the performances, results come. It's about that.

"It is going to be a great atmosphere and today the atmosphere was tremendous. The fans were excited, they were positive and they were pushing the team. I expect that even more next week."