But head coach Josef Venglos is aware that the league leaders will be on a revenge mission after the last stunning game between the two Scottish giants.

On the morning of 21 November his side were ten points behind Rangers, but responded magnificently to the challenge with a 5-1 hammering of their bitter rivals.

That victory has not provided the catalyst to get Celtic's title defence back on track and they go into Sunday's clash in exactly the same position.

Defeat at Ibrox and the gap will be an almost insurmountable 13 points during Scottish football's first ever winter break.

But victory for Venglos' men and they will again be seven points adrift, with at least some chance of preventing a ninth title in ten going to Ibrox.

Mark Burchill scores one of Celtic's five goals in November

Venglos admits his side will be hard pushed to repeat the margin of victory from November and he knows that they will be even more determined to prevent any Celtic victory after their humiliation last time around.

But he is not about to concede anything yet and insists his team have the quality to gain their first league triumph at Ibrox for 14 years.

"We have good experienced players and we hope performance-wise to have a good standard," he said.

"I know every player selected will give 100% and is looking forward to a real challenge.

"I'm sure my players will do their best to show their quality, but as with all derbies it will be a tight contest and perhaps a predictable one in that both teams know each other so well now.

"We are behind them, but it should be mentioned we have had several games this season in which we have just missed that small turning point which would have made a difference to where we are now."

Not decisive - Advocaat

Rangers manager Dick Advocaat refuses to view the game as a title decider but cannot fail to be aware of its significance after the reaction to that heavy Parkhead defeat.

He said: "Everybody jumped on us after the first game we lost against Hearts, and I keep saying it - You get prizes at the end of the season. The season doesn't end after this match."

Advocaat is missing French striker Stephane Guivarc'h because of a damaged ankle meaning a probable start for Finn Jonatan Johansson.

Colin Hendry returns from suspension with Scott Wilson likely to make way in the centre of defence.

For Celtic, Jackie McNamara will be pushing for a recall after at last recovering from a knee problem.