‘Result will not define our season’

GRAINY images of Old Firm matches have a habit of loitering in the memory bank long after fleeting moments from myriad other games have long been forgotten.

As any former protagonist of the fixture will readily attest, they are the games that define you long after the ball has been put away and the boots have been hung on the peg.

Erik Sviatchenko, the latest in a long line of Danes to grace the game, gets all that. Purely in terms of today’s affair, however, he feels that whatever transpires at Ibrox should stand in line and be judged with what has gone already this season.

Put bluntly, having dropped points in just one of 19 league matches to date, the defender believes even a defeat at the home of Celtic’s bitter rivals should not be allowed to cloud an incredible start to the campaign.

‘It would be unfortunate (to lose) so that’s why we need to win,’ he said.

‘But one game is not decisive in terms of what we have been doing for six months — even though it is Rangers at Ibrox.

‘It will be unfair, to us as players or staff, to say one thing will change everything and make it negative. That is unrealistic.

‘We have to look at the bigger picture and say how have we been performing. If we put everything into it then we will come out with a good result.

‘It would be a nice place to finish off the year with a victory and a good performance.

‘I’m not sure I would categorise it as a fairy tale, but it would make for a good run where we have been progressing fast. To beat Rangers at Ibrox will always be a good thing.’

The build-up to such occasions always involves a degree of pantomime no matter the season. No sooner had the final whistle blown against Ross County on Wednesday and Brendan Rodgers was telling the world that all the heat would be on Rangers come Saturday.

If it can readily be assumed that his own side will not exactly be packing the hammocks and cigars for the trip across town, a 16-point lead at the halfway point of the campaign does, surely, compel rival Mark Warburton to disabuse us of the notion that the gap is every bit as big as the league table suggests. ‘You say a 16-point gap, but if they have — as I believe — some targets, then they are under pressure,’ said Sviatchenko (below).

‘But we only focus on ourselves and if we make the gap to others big, then that’s us doing our job.

‘There will be (a fear factor for Rangers) for sure, but they will do everything to stop it. If there is fear afterwards, then so be it.

‘The most important thing is for us to be at our best and try to win.’

Only once since the last league meeting in September have Celtic missed a beat in the Premiership by drawing in Inverness. In sharp contrast, Rangers have shipped a further 14 points.

Sviatchenko will leave it for others to decide if the resultant gap is a true reflection on the disparity in quality between the sides.

In terms of the way his own side has taken care of business, however, he feels they could not have acquitted themselves any better.

‘I think since we played the last game we have only progressed in the style of play and the intensity,’ he explained.

‘We have played different types of games. I remember Hamilton away when Callum (McGregor) was sent off but we kept going and we saw a different side to the team.

‘Taking that into account, I think we are prepared as a team and as individuals.

‘If we talk gaps — then that is up to you if you think the gap is bigger or smaller.

‘I think we’ve been progressing. If that means that they have progressed, too, then the gap may be the same.’

That oldest of Old Firm clichés — the one where the form book goes out the window — is not strictly accurate. By and large, the form team going into the fixture prevails.

Which is not to say that in a cauldron of noise, strange things cannot happen. The need to play the game and not the occasion is of paramount importance.

‘I have heard it can be a bit hostile — in a good way,’ added the centre-half. ‘I like the big games and to try different stadiums around Scotland and Europe. ‘I’m looking forward to it. I don’t have any problems with a bit of attention or abuse — that’s fine.

‘I think these games have their own spirit and life. Everything can happen. ‘Maybe in the game it can level because of the intensity. That is good because it gives the game a magical

quality.’