Celtic skipper Scott Brown is expecting a tougher clash with Rangers on Sunday
Thursday 20 October 2016 20:37, UK
Scott Brown is anticipating a much tighter contest when Celtic meet Rangers in the Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden after their Old Firm win last month.
Celtic beat the Gers 5-1 in their Premiership encounter at Parkhead in September and Brendan Rodgers' side will go to the national stadium four points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table and remain unbeaten domestically.
However, Brown believes Rangers have improved since their last meeting and is expecting a much tougher afternoon.
"They have been more solid and have a more steady team as well, it hasn't been chopped and changed," he said. "It will be a lot tighter. Everyone thinks it is going to be three, four, five nothing for us again because we scored five goals, but it is going to be a lot harder game.
"But again, we have the pace and quality to score a couple of goals. They will have watched us closely in the last couple of weeks knowing this game was coming up.
"They will play a bit differently. I don't think they will be as open as they were at Celtic Park, but we will have to see what team they put out and who fancies it more on the day.
"Anything can happen on the day, to be perfectly honest, but we are in a stronger position than we were last season. The results in the league and the cups have been really positive for us this season so far so we need to just push on from there."
Joey Barton, who criticised Brown after moving to Ibrox in the summer, will not be playing on Sunday as his suspension imposed by Rangers continues and the Celtic skipper was asked if he was disappointed not to be lining up against the former Burnley midfielder.
He said: "I was waiting on that one, it was only a matter of time. I was wondering who was going to ask that," before simply adding: "Yeah."
Rangers will take encouragement from last season's Scottish Cup semi-final at the national stadium when they beat Celtic in a penalty shoot-out after a 2-2 draw.
However, Brown insists the difference at the Parkhead club since Rodgers took over from Ronny Deila in the summer is "night and day".
He added: "We have brought in some great players and that has helped. We have pace all over the team. We have Moussa Dembele who is scoring goals as well, we have Griff [Leigh Griffiths] who scored 40 goals last season, so we are in a lot stronger place than what we were last season."
Brown was also reflecting on the 2-0 defeat by Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League on Wednesday which left Celtic with one point from a possible nine ahead of the return game in Germany in two weeks' time.
However, he remains confident of playing European football in the new year as he looks to bounce back against Rangers.
He said: "Games are coming thick and fast and that is a good thing, especially after a defeat. You can start that momentum again and hopefully we can.
"We need to get on with it now. We can't be too disappointed about last night. They are a great team with the way they played from the back to the strikers and the midfield movement was exceptional.
"We still have a chance of getting European football after Christmas, but it is going to be hard. We are going to need to dig deep and hopefully results go our way as well. Going away from home has always been hard for us in the Champions League, but we have a new manager in charge now, so here's hoping we can go over there and do something."
