Glasgow (AFP) – Rangers restored their nine-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership with an 8-0 thrashing of Hamilton as Celtic bounced back with a 4-1 win at Motherwell on Sunday.
Steven Gerrard’s men have played two more matches than their Glasgow rivals but showed why they are now the bookmakers’ favourites to end Celtic’s record-equalling run of nine straight league titles.
Hamilton shocked the hosts on their last visit to Ibrox in March, but Rangers are a team transformed since Scottish football’s return in August, unbeaten in 20 games in all competitions this season.
Joe Aribo, Kemar Roofe and James Tavernier all scored twice, while Scott Arfield and Brandon Barker were also on target against the rock-bottom Accies.
In stark contrast to Rangers’ fine European form, Celtic suffered a humiliating 4-1 home defeat to Sparta Prague on Thursday.
Mohamed Elyounoussi faced a backlash from ex-Celtic players for being seen on his mobile phone after being substituted in midweek, but responded with a hat-trick at Fir Park to ease the pressure on manager Neil Lennon.
“I thought we were really well motivated, we looked far more like ourselves,” said Lennon. “The players responded brilliantly, it’s a fantastic response and win.
“They know they can play a lot better than they’ve showed. There was better body language about us today, better hunger. That’s what we are looking for, that’s a really good barometer for us now.”
Elyounoussi settled any nerves from the visitors early on as he pounced after Albian Ajeti’s strike came back off the post.
Tom Rogic then teed up the on-loan Southampton winger for his second from close range.
Celtic’s defence has been the source of most of Lennon’s problems in recent weeks and their frailty from set-pieces was again exposed when Declan Gallagher’s header halved Motherwell’s deficit 18 minutes from time.
However, Elyounoussi quickly responded with a towering header of his own at the back post to restore Celtic’s two-goal cushion.
“That was a big misunderstanding, I let my feet do the talking,” said Elyounoussi on the controversy over the phone.
“It was a good day. We got goals, we showed character, responded from Thursday’s game and got the points.”
France under-21 stars Odsonne Edouard and Olivier Ntcham have also failed to match their standards of previous seasons so far this campaign.
But they came off the bench to combine for Celtic’s fourth as Edouard teed up Ntcham to side-foot into the bottom corner.
