This season's Old Firm battle for the summit of Scottish club football sees challengers Rangers currently four points ahead of defending champions Celtic with both sides having played 21 games.
Rangers earned a 1-0 win at Inverness on Sunday, while the previous day
Celtic won by the same scoreline at home to Kilmarnock. So although Celtic had closed to within a point of their arch-rivals on Saturday evening, by the end of the weekend the status quo had been re-established, with Rangers out in front.
However, Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura is not perturbed that the Hoops are chasing the Light Blues.
He believes the pressure is all on Walter Smith’s Rangers as the challengers trying to stay ahead of Celtic and the other sides in a closer than usual title race.
And Nakamura is confident Celtic will go on to their third successive SPL title.
“In the past two years it us who have been chased a bit,” Nakamura said.
“But at the moment we are doing the chasing and I think that is mentally easier than the other way around.
“The pressure is now all on Rangers.”
Nevertheless, since Smith replaced Paul Le Guen as manager at Ibrox, concedes Nakamura, Rangers have become far more formidable adversaries.
The Japan star believes the current Rangers is superior by some distance to the teams that crumbled in recent seasons.
He said: “They [Rangers] are definitely stronger and that makes the Old Firm game even more important than usual.
“They finished last season doing well and that was a big thing for them. On top of that they bought a few new players which also helped.”
Influential playmaker Nakamura faces a looming dilemma with Japan scheduled to play friendy matches against Chile and Bosnia next month, and he himself still a month off being passed fully fit.
“I’m not sure what will happen. I know the association [of Japan] has written to Celtic but I don’t know how it will work out. It could be I miss the next round of the Scottish Cup.
“The trouble is I want to play in everything.
“I’m probably about a month away [from fitness] at the moment.”
Rangers earned a 1-0 win at Inverness on Sunday, while the previous day
Celtic won by the same scoreline at home to Kilmarnock. So although Celtic had closed to within a point of their arch-rivals on Saturday evening, by the end of the weekend the status quo had been re-established, with Rangers out in front.
However, Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura is not perturbed that the Hoops are chasing the Light Blues.
He believes the pressure is all on Walter Smith’s Rangers as the challengers trying to stay ahead of Celtic and the other sides in a closer than usual title race.
And Nakamura is confident Celtic will go on to their third successive SPL title.
“In the past two years it us who have been chased a bit,” Nakamura said.
“But at the moment we are doing the chasing and I think that is mentally easier than the other way around.
“The pressure is now all on Rangers.”
Nevertheless, since Smith replaced Paul Le Guen as manager at Ibrox, concedes Nakamura, Rangers have become far more formidable adversaries.
The Japan star believes the current Rangers is superior by some distance to the teams that crumbled in recent seasons.
He said: “They [Rangers] are definitely stronger and that makes the Old Firm game even more important than usual.
“They finished last season doing well and that was a big thing for them. On top of that they bought a few new players which also helped.”
Influential playmaker Nakamura faces a looming dilemma with Japan scheduled to play friendy matches against Chile and Bosnia next month, and he himself still a month off being passed fully fit.
“I’m not sure what will happen. I know the association [of Japan] has written to Celtic but I don’t know how it will work out. It could be I miss the next round of the Scottish Cup.
“The trouble is I want to play in everything.
“I’m probably about a month away [from fitness] at the moment.”
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