“Nothing is won in December,” claimed Philippe Clement in the wake of the narrow but deserved win over St Johnstone.
But barring a catastrophic second half of the season for Celtic, it already feels inconceivable the title is not beyond his Rangers side.
For Clement now, it is simply a case of trying to eat into their great rivals’ 11-point lead if at all possible while trying to pursue a better standard of performance and greater level of consistency to ensure that Aberdeen, at least, are overtaken.
Conceivably that deficit could be down to four points by close of play on Wednesday, if Rangers can take care of business at home to Kilmarnock and the Dons lose at home in the top-of-the-table battle. Small victories must be taken when offered and, given how the table looked only a few weeks ago, that would be one.
The difficulty these days for Rangers is that every fixture looks like a potential stumbling block. Killie have already given them a bloody nose at Rugby Park and will be keen to do so again.
Ditto Ross County in Dingwall on Sunday after their (in)famous first-ever victory over Rangers that helped swing the title race back in Celtic’s favour last season after Clement had inspired an unlikely turnaround.
If Rangers can record victories in both those games (maybe even with a bit of panache, which has been lacking domestically), they can turn their attention to two potentially pivotal matches against Tottenham in the Europa League and Celtic in the League Cup final.
More on those nearer the time, but they are looming large on the horizon, despite Clement’s mantra about only ever focusing on the next game.
Few managers stray from that approach, at least in public, and the Rangers boss cannot afford for anyone at the club to take their eye off the ball before those games if he wants preparations for them to be positive.
