Derek McInnes said league leaders Hearts remain in a “strong position” despite missing the chance to move three points clear after a 2-2 draw at bottom side Livingston.
The gap between the top three was reduced to three points after Celtic’s late 2-1 win at Dundee on Sunday, following Rangers briefly topping the table for the first time in two years after their win over Dundee United at Ibrox on Saturday.
Hearts’ destiny remains in their own hands with six games left of the season. They face Motherwell next weekend in their last match before the split. McInnes acknowledged his side had held larger leads earlier in the campaign but insisted they still have a good chance of winning a top-flight title for the first time in 66 years.
“We’re still in a strong position,” he said after the draw at Livingston. “We’ve now got three games at home of the last six, but there’s no doubting that the next time we go away from home, we’re going to have to make sure we defend a lot better than we did today.”
Celtic’s hopes of a fifth straight title looked in doubt after a 2-0 defeat at Dundee United before the international break, but Kelechi Iheanacho’s late winner at Dens Park moved them to within three points of the leaders, with both rival clubs still to play in the final weeks.
Celtic missed several chances in the win at Dundee, with Tomas Čvančara highlighted as failing to build on Hyun-Jun Wang’s early opener. Martin O’Neill singled out profligacy in front of goal as the main issue for Celtic’s title push.
“It’s going to be as simple as this – we will, obviously, create chances. It’s a matter of taking them and then defending strongly,” he told Sky Sports after Sunday’s victory. “You can have all the midfield play you want, but at the end of the day we will have to take our chances. We cannot afford to go through another half like this year, miss the number of chances we have then expect it to work out for us.”
Pre-split Scottish Premiership title race fixtures:
– April 11: Celtic vs St Mirren
– April 11: Hearts vs Motherwell
– April 12: Falkirk vs Rangers – live on Sky Sports
Rangers boss Danny Röhl urged his side to “remain the hunter” after they briefly reached the Premiership summit on Saturday, the first time since February 2024. Röhl said he was surprised by how long it had been since the club were top but stressed the team had achieved “nothing” with six games remaining.
“I was really surprised that this is the first time we’ve been top in two years,” he said. “But the most important thing is that we still have the right mindset. We have to stay as the hunter. We have to be on the front foot and if we win six games then we will have something at the end of the season. I am really convinced that my players have the potential to do this. But there is still a long way to go and it’s no secret that next week away to Falkirk is a very difficult game. We will take things step by step, but we had nine ‘finals’ and we have won the first three of them. That gives us a good feeling, but nothing more. We have to be humble and ready for the next fight.”
Former Scotland and Motherwell striker James McFadden told Sky Sports it was impossible to predict the title race despite Hearts having led for all but one day since late September, with each of the top three having dropped at least four points in their last five games.
“You’re looking at Hearts, expecting them to win comfortably at Livingston,” he said. “They’re in a great position, they get pegged back and draw the game. Rangers, people expect them to win at Ibrox. Celtic, you weren’t sure whether you were going to get a performance or purely a result. You got the result and there were good elements of the performance, there’s still things to improve upon. It just shows you that you still don’t know. You could make a prediction every week and get it wrong.”