STEVEN GERRARD admitted Celtic were still favourites to be crowned Premiership champions for the eighth successive year – despite Rangers’ 1-0 win over Brendan Rodgers’ side at Ibrox yesterday.
A goal from Ryan Jack in 30 minutes gave the Govan outfit their first outright win since 2012 and the Liverpool legend refused to go overboard with his celebrations.
He said: “Listen, Celtic are still the favourites. They’re still the team to beat.
“I’m not going to sit here and brag because we’ve beaten Celtic once. We have respect for the opposition and the other teams in the league.
“It’s a very difficult league. But what we have shown is that when we find a level then we are more than a match for them.”
The Gers are now joint top on 42 points with Brendan Rodgers’ outfit who have a game in hand.
Gerrard added: “I think that at a club this size you can’t stand still. You need to keep striving to improve and grow in all areas of the pitch, myself included.
“We need to try and strengthen in certain areas, so we won’t stand still and milk this moment. We’ll enjoy the win and then we’ll have a rest and get back on the horse and get ready to go again. But we still have a lot of hard work to do.
“We’re now off for five or six days to allow the players to recover.
“We’ve been non-stop since June 15, so the players need some family time. We worked on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and they deserve time to rest up. We’ll then go abroad to the sun and push them again with a mini pre-season.
“We’ll try and get bodies back available so I can pick the strongest side at the end of January.”
