RODGERS: HOLS OVER FOR RIVALS

BRENDAN RODGERS says rivals Rangers and Aberdeen are “on holiday” this season as Celtic cruised to a bad-tempered victory over the Dons.

The Hoops now only have the Premiership and the Scottish Cup to contend with after crashing out of the Europa League to Zenit Saint Petersburg.

And Rodgers (above) reckons that puts them on an equal footing.

“It was a fantastic win for us,” said the former Liverpool boss. “We’re on an even playing field now with most of the other teams, 10 games to go.

“Some teams around us have been on holiday for a year with virtually one game a week. We’ve dealt with everything up until this point now.

“One or two teams around us have pressure now, when they’ve been playing with no pressure a lot of the season.”

Moussa Dembele opened the scoring when he nodded in James Forrest’s cross before defender Mikael Lustig was sent off for two yellow cards.

Kieran Tierney settled it seven minutes from time, a minute before Dons debutant Sam Cosgrove saw red for a horror tackle on Scott Brown.

Dons boss Derek McInnes, who lost to Celtic for a career 10th time, said: “We were guilty of a couple of moments of madness.

“I am not putting the blame on anybody but we slit our own throat in terms of the second goal.”

Meanwhile, Rangers won for the fourth game in a row, with Jamie Murphy and Russell Martin finding the net against Hearts.

Brighton loanee Murphy claims the Gers should be walking every game.

He said: “You’re supposed to win every game, so we’ll keep going and try our best.”