Rangers have now fallen 12 points behind their Old Firm rivals.
Charlie Nicholas has stated in a blunt manner that the Premiership title is ‘gone’ for Rangers after they dropped more points over the weekend.
It has been a poor showing from Rangers since their return from the winter break and Nicholas told Sky Sports that Steven Gerrard is ‘unhappy’ with his defence, which came under scrutiny following their draw at St Johnstone on Sunday.
There is no time for the Gers to dwell on their past problems because they have a very tricky Europa League knockout game to deal with on Wednesday night.
Gerrard’s men lead Sporting Braga 3-2 from the first leg and they will now travel to Portugal. But Nicholas believes this is the end of the road for Rangers in Europe.
“Rangers know the title is gone,” Nicholas told Sky Sports. “Steven Gerrard has been unhappy with the defence and questioned it quite a bit. It has been poor and evident for all to see.
“Gerrard has introduced the fighting spirit to this Rangers team. They have a really good away record in the Europa League, but I fear Braga are too good for them. It has been amazing for them to get here but I think they will go out on away goals.
“You cannot trust the defence at the minute, while Alfredo Morelos is suspended, so this spells trouble.”
There are two cup competitions awaiting Rangers this week, starting with that trip to Portugal. They will then take on Hearts in the Scottish Cup, a ground where they suffered a defeat last month.
Given how things are panning out for Gerrard in the league, he can ill-afford to make matters worse by watching his side bow out of two competitions within the space of a few days.
That would be a disaster and would mean that their only chance of lifting some silverware will be trying to stop Celtic from winning nine in a row, and at this moment in time, that is proving to be pretty difficult.
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