Celtic are wobbling and Derek McInnes has Rangers ready to strike

St Mirren offer a dangerous trap for Derek McInnes

Rangers have momentum on their side, but momentum in Scottish football vanishes quickly. An unbeaten run spanning 11 outings has pulled Derek McInnes into touching distance of first place. Celtic stumbled badly at Falkirk on Sunday lunchtime, and that surprise result blew the title race wide open.

If Rangers win away to St Mirren on Saturday night, the gap at the summit drops to a single point. That outcome would heap massive psychological pressure onto Celtic before the reigning champions face Kilmarnock on Sunday. McInnes knows these golden opportunities do not arrive every week.

Winning away from home in this league is rarely simple. Craig McLeish has organized St Mirren into an awkward, combative unit that sits eighth with one win in eight matches, yet their home form tells a stubborn story. They held Hibs to a draw, beat Dundee, and led Celtic before dropping a tight 2-1 contest in September.

Rangers already have firsthand experience with how difficult McLeish makes life. When the teams met in Glasgow earlier this season, Jacob Chapman and Ivor Pandur both pulled off big saves to keep the contest scoreless. Only a late Bojan Miovski goal saved Rangers from dropping points that afternoon.

The late 20:00 kickoff introduces another mental hurdle after Rangers dropped two points away to Dundee in that exact time slot. Ryan Naderi's late semi-final winner against Aberdeen showed resilience, but relying on late rescue acts is playing with fire. St Mirren will happily turn this evening match into a war of attrition.

Duran surges while Kasper Hogh goes cold for Celtic

Celtic still sit four points clear at the summit. Yet the invincibility they displayed during the opening months has started to crack. Their shock defeat at Falkirk proved that aggressive pressing can dismantle their buildup play.

Thursday night delivered high drama alongside defensive headaches. A chaotic 3-2 victory over Besiktas gave Celtic their first Europa League win of the campaign. Supporters celebrated the comeback, but Besiktas carved open Celtic's backline far too easily on the break.

O'Neill was quick to praise the squad's fighting spirit after the final whistle in Glasgow. He made sure to highlight their collective resolve under heavy pressure.

"Celtic character shone through big time."

Character wins European knockout ties, but league titles require structural discipline. When Besiktas bypassed Celtic's midfield on Thursday, the center-backs were left stranded defending huge amounts of space. Repeating those positional errors on Sunday against Kilmarnock will invite unnecessary danger into Celtic Park.

The attacking dynamic has shifted rapidly thanks to Camilo Duran. The summer signing completely transformed the Besiktas contest, teaming up with Osmand to spark the attack before smashing home a late double. Duran has shouldered the bulk of the goalscoring load in recent weeks.

That sudden rise puts Kasper Hogh under intense scrutiny. His only three goals for Celtic came in a single afternoon back in August during a 5-1 rout of Kilmarnock. Going nearly three months without finding the net has drained the Danish forward's confidence.

Hogh looks hesitant inside the penalty area, slow to react to low crosses, and physically overpowered by aggressive center-backs. Second-bottom Kilmarnock arrive having won just once in six matches. Sticking with Hogh out of loyalty over Duran would be an unforced tactical error.

Kilmarnock will pack defenders behind the ball, waste time, and challenge Celtic to find creative solutions. If Celtic start Hogh and struggle to score early, the home crowd will voice their frustration quickly.

Hearts unravel in defense while Falkirk refuse to blink

In Edinburgh, Tynecastle is bracing for an uncomfortable Sunday afternoon. Wouter Vrancken watched his team limp to a demoralizing 3-1 defeat against Thun in Switzerland on Thursday. It was an error-ridden display that exposed a chronic lack of defensive depth.

To be fair to Vrancken, the injury crisis he is managing borders on catastrophic. Ten first-team players missed the European trip through various fitness issues. When an entire spine is missing, tactical coherence disappears and players are forced into unfamiliar roles.

Hearts have now won just one of their last seven fixtures across all competitions. Sitting four points behind Rangers and eight behind Celtic, they are watching the top two pull away into the distance. If their defensive fragility continues, bridging that gap will become impossible before the new year.

Sunday's visitors will offer zero sympathy for Edinburgh's injury troubles. Falkirk arrive in the capital chasing five consecutive league wins after stunning Celtic last weekend. Their brilliant surge began with a home win over Hearts in mid-September, and they have seldom looked back since.

Hearts look exhausted after their European trip to Switzerland. Asking makeshift defenders to track Falkirk's rapid transitions after heavy travel is asking for trouble. If Falkirk strike early, the Tynecastle support will turn mutinous before halftime.

Vrancken desperately needs the respite provided by the international break to clear out his treatment room. But Falkirk will not allow them an easy afternoon of recovery. Hearts must dig deep and find defensive discipline, or their domestic campaign will spiral into total disarray.

Marink Reedijk faces a brutal reality check at Hibernian

Hibernian remain the great riddle of Scottish football. Last Sunday, Marink Reedijk guided his team to a 2-1 comeback victory over rivals Hearts in the League Cup semi-final. The emotional win ended a seven-game winless drought and booked a Hampden final date with Rangers in mid-December.

The celebrations inside the national stadium were electric as supporters belted out their club anthem. Reedijk was swept away by the atmosphere after the final whistle.

"I love these kind of things."

Cup euphoria is intoxicating, but the league table presents a grim reality. Under their Dutch head coach, Hibs have taken a paltry one point from 12 available to prop up the table after 11 matches. Reaching a final means nothing if Reedijk cannot organize a midfield that repeatedly leaves the back four exposed.

Their recovery attempt begins on Saturday evening at Pittodrie. Stephen Robinson's Aberdeen sit third from bottom, three points ahead of Hibs, having lost two straight league matches before their cup exit to Rangers. Both teams need an immediate turnaround to keep their top-six ambitions alive.

When the sides met at Easter Road last month, they fought to a tense 1-1 draw. Both squads looked cautious and terrified of making costly mistakes. On Saturday, another stalemate solves nothing for Robinson and keeps Reedijk rooted to the foot of the table.

The dogfight across the middle of the table

While title contenders grab headlines, the middle tier is locked in a tight battle. Dundee United host Motherwell and St Johnstone welcome Dundee in a Tayside derby at 15:00 GMT on Saturday. With national teams assembling next week and Sky Sports tracking international squad selections, nobody wants to enter the break on a defeat.

As the BBC Sport matchday preview pointed out, last weekend did little to separate the chasing pack. Four storylines will dictate how the table shapes up before Sunday's fixtures:

• Motherwell ended their long wait for a victory by beating St Mirren, aiming to repeat their dominant 3-0 win over Dundee United from September.
• Dundee United played with ten men in that September defeat and can climb above Falkirk by taking all three points on Saturday.
• St Johnstone proved their fighting spirit last weekend by twice battling back with ten players to draw 2-2 with Kilmarnock.
• Dundee had last weekend off and want revenge after surrendering a late lead to a Perth equalizer at Dens earlier this season.

St Johnstone showed admirable grit by earning a point with ten men against Kilmarnock, but playing short-handed is an unsustainable habit. Dundee sit just one point behind Falkirk, knowing a derby victory puts them right into the top-six picture. Yet their habit of coughing up late advantages continues to undermine their progress.

Motherwell will test Dundee United's defensive nerve from the opening whistle. United collapsed in September following an early red card, while Motherwell proved against St Mirren they can grind out results. United must match Motherwell in physical duels to take anything from this clash.

Six fixtures spread across five kick-off slots will test every manager's tactical preparation before the international hiatus. Derek McInnes has Rangers positioned to strike, while Celtic must find defensive stability and resolve their striker dilemma. By Sunday evening, the Premiership table will look radically different.