CELTIC boss Brendan Rodgers has insisted it will be time for the talking to stop when he takes his team to Ibrox on Sunday.
The Hoops can move nine points ahead of Graeme Murty’s side with a game in hand if they maintain their 100 per cent record in Govan.
The Irishman has seen the Parkhead outfit win three on the bounce, 2-1 and 5-1 last season and 2-0 in this campaign.
There has been a lot of chat in the run-up to the clash, but Rodgers, who has won six and drawn two of his outings against Rangers, insisted his players will keep their concentration as they attempt to zero in on historic back-to-back double trebles.
Murty revealed that the Scottish Cup semi-final draw that paired the teams had been greeted with cheers in the Ibrox dressing room following Sunday’s 4-1 win over Falkirk in the quarter-final.
Rodgers said: “It doesn’t really concern me, to be honest, what the noise is.
“I am very much focused on Celtic, really.”
Since Murty’s side held the champions to a goalless draw at Parkhead at the end of December, they have dropped just three points – a loss to Neil Lennon’s Hibs – but have won all their other six games.
Rodgers added: “Graeme has done a good job there stabilising their squad.
“They have had some good results and one thing that they have got that they been searching for, certainly in my time up here, has been consistency.
“They have players who know what it means to play for Rangers and be in and around it and they have got some spirit now.
“We go with equally the same attitude and that we always have. I watched the Rangers v Hibs game and Hibs played very well and with real tempo and intensity in their game.
“We have been there three times and won three times and won well.
“We’ll go there next week with that same humility and same work ethic to get a result.”
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