Brendan Rodgers: Celtic won't take foot off the gas despite gap at the top

Brendan Rodgers has warned the rest of the Premiership that his Celtic side aren’t ready to take their foot off the gas despite building up a 14-point lead at the top of the table at the halfway stage.

The Hoops are chasing a domestic treble, Champions League knockout stages, a fourth title in a row and an undefeated league season in 2025 after an impressive first-half of the campaign.

Victory over St Johnstone on Sunday meant they finished 2024 undefeated at home in all competitions and suffered only two defeats across the whole calendar year.

They also begin the year with a chance of increasing their lead at the top to a seemingly unassailable 17-points when they take on Rangers at Ibrox on Thursday.

However, the manager insists they are not ready to rest on their laurels yet and will keep going at full flow and look to improve further for the rest of the season.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday as he prepares to take his side to Ibrox to take on their city rivals, Rodgers said: “In terms of what we achieved over the course of 2024, it was really impressive and we want to continue with that.

“The next game will mark the halfway point of this season, and up until this point the skill, the discipline and the teamwork shown by the players has been outstanding.

“So we want to continue in that mentality.

“We put pressure on ourselves every game to win and to win well, so nothing changes in that aspect.

“There’s certainly no less stress going into the game (against Rangers), they are there to be enjoyed of course and that is what excites us every time they come around.

“So there is no less pressure on us than usual, people might think ‘we’ll look at the gap’ but that doesn’t come into our thinking.

“We can’t soften up, and we won’t soften up, we perform for the next game and we know how much this next game means to people.

“The size of the gap doesn’t come into it at all, our mentality is always to look to perform and play our game and that pressure will always be there, especially in a game at Ibrox with none of our supporters there.”

Over two-spells at Parkhead Rodgers has built up an impressive record in the derby and has a higher win percentage than any other manager in the fixtures history.

From his 20 games against Rangers he has 16 wins, three draws and only one defeat and he is “fully committed” to improving that record even further on Thursday afternoon.

He said: “It (the derby) means a lot to the players, they have a good record in the fixture and we are all very committed to winning the game.

“They are always special games, I never get tired of them and treat them all like it is my first one. So I understand what it takes and what it means to win this fixture and that is our aim again.

“It’s a great game for us to start the year with so we are excited by that.”