Celtic meltdown as SPL development plays into Rangers’ hands for 56 | OneFootball

Something very important happened today in the race for the title. 23/24 – Dundee, the perennially-controversial waterlogged midtable side, with their postponed Rangers fixture, secured top 6 officially after a 0-0 with Aberdeen.

This has massive implications for the title race.

Dundee are now confirmed 6th and might as well as go to Hawaii already – they have little-to-no chance of picking many if any points in the Split, and they won’t much care either.

Which means Rangers still have to face them in what is now a total dead rubber for the Dens side. And that practically guarantees Rangers the 3 points if the match ever takes place.

This means Celtic are decidedly unhappy because this ‘cannon fodder’ will only be a one match for them, but Rangers have now got that game in hand against a team who don’t care.

Dundee MIGHT be able to scrape 5th, but there will be absolutely zero expectation at Dens that they can do it for sure, and all they ever wanted was 6th. They will get nowhere near 4th.

So this plays beautifully into Rangers’ hands – with two fixtures against them upcoming, Rangers have sort of guaranteed (no such guarantees really) 6 points in the Split already.

Celtic, obviously, only have the one against them, and they’ll expect to win. But that’s 3 points.

In short, Celtic have completed their regular season, but Rangers have two matches in hand – Ross County, second bottom, and Dundee, 6th.

It means that if Rangers show up properly, that’s 6 points and a 2-point lead.

And all fixtures will now be evened up.

Of course, this is speculative to an extent – there is much football to be played.

But Dundee getting 6th means they secure the big place they wanted and they are the weak side of the split. Hibs would have been a trickier customer for Rangers, especially at Easter Road.

But we avoid them now for the rest of the campaign. And the same for Aberdeen.

It’s all worked out very well indeed for Rangers. Just need to actually use these ‘advantages’ on the pitch and earn the points they’ve presented.