Lee McCulloch thinks that both Rangers and Celtic are slowly finding out that the league is getting harder with the rich competition on offer in the Scottish Premiership.
Both Celtic and Rangers are yet to win a single away game in the league so far this season and currently occupy fifth and sixth position respectively in the Premiership table.
Hearts have enjoyed unbeaten start to the season, while Hibernian and Livingston, who beat Rangers on Sunday, are level in second and third respectively with 14 points.
The Bhoys enjoyed successive domestic trebles under Brendan Rodgers in the last two seasons, but Celtic’s title defence has got off to a poor start this year, while Rangers showed on Sunday they can still slip up.
McCulloch, who was part of the Rangers side that reached the UEFA Cup final under Walter Smith, admitted that both Celtic and Rangers are now finding out that the Scottish league is getting harder these days.
However, he insisted that both clubs will still be in the running at the business end of the season to try and lift the trophy.
“It is still very early days when it comes to the league”, McCulloch wrote in his column for the Evening Times.
“Hearts are top of the table and deservedly so, but when the prizes are being given out in May, I fully expect it to be Rangers and Celtic that will be battling it out for the title.
“Rangers are still gelling and coming together.
“The early signs have been really promising on the whole in terms of the quality of play and the resilience that the side have shown under the new manager compared to anything that has come before over these last four or five years, but there will be the odd hiccup.
“And let’s not forget that Celtic have yet to win a match away from home in the league either.
“Over the years, I’ve learnt that one of the biggest things in football is perception, but you can’t be labelling Rangers as being soft on the road because they haven’t won an away game when Celtic haven’t done so either.
“The league is getting harder and opposition teams are getting better all the time, which is good for the game in Scotland as a whole.
“But it means that the big boys won’t have it all their own way week-in week-out like they might have used to”, he added.
Celtic will travel to Austria to face Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League on Thursday, while Rangers are at home to Rapid Vienna.
