Alex McLeish

RANGERS are more than capable of going on and doing the league and cup double this season and they will want to prove that they are the dominant team and finish the season by winning two trophies.

Celtic have had a little bit of a resurgence recently and look like they are a stronger unit than they were during a difficult few months. That is a danger to Rangers and they will need to be at their best or Celtic could go through.

I really feel that this is a great chance for Rangers to add the Scottish Cup to the Premiership title, but this is not the final and they would still have to go and win it if they were to beat Celtic on Sunday.

You can’t be disrespectful and think that if you win at Ibrox then you have won the cup, but it is obvious that the team that is victorious here will be favourites to go all the way.

Having won the league, Rangers and Steven Gerrard will want to emphasise why they have been so successful and so dominant. That will be in their minds, I would certainly be thinking that, and Steven will want his players to have that mentality.

I saw the comments last week from John Kennedy when he stated that Celtic still have the best squad in Scotland and I fully understand him wanting to back up his team and his players.

If you don’t do that and don’t have faith in them, then the fans will be wondering what is going on at the club. And the players won’t be too impressed either.

I am not saying that John is making it up and he clearly believes that to be the case. Celtic are still a very good side but their recruitment this season wasn’t as good as it could have been and that has cost them.

They do still have a formidable side on their day but it is great when the opposition manager says something that you feel you can use in your team-talk.

Some of the players don’t read the papers and you have to remind them and you do hear managers say that their team-talk was done for them by an opposition coach.