McInnes: 'A bit early' for Rangers to pile pressure on Celtic and Hearts

Derek McInnes has dismissed the notion that Rangers can apply meaningful pressure on Celtic and Hearts with a win against Dundee on Saturday evening, insisting his side must remain focused solely on their own results.

A victory at Dens Park would lift Rangers above Celtic to the summit of the Scottish Premiership, with their Glasgow rivals not in action until Sunday when they face third-place Hearts in a rematch of last season's title decider. Rangers arrive on the back of seven straight wins in all competitions, in stark contrast to Celtic, who have stumbled of late with four defeats in their past five outings.

But the Rangers boss refused to frame the fixture as an opportunity to unsettle the clubs above and around them.

"The thing for me with that is you've still just got to win your game," McInnes said, when asked whether a victory could hand Rangers a psychological advantage over Celtic and Hearts. "Whenever you're asked to play, whether it's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, you've just got to win your game. It's a bit early in the season to [put pressure on title rivals]."

He added: "The fact we're playing first this time around, I won't even mention putting pressure on an opposition. I'm more focused on the fight being with us to improve and just concentrating on getting another three points.

"Small steps, win your game and don't be too obsessed with what's happening elsewhere."

European distraction for rivals

Both Celtic and Hearts were in European action on Thursday, with Celtic swept aside 4-1 by Benfica in the Europa League and Hearts drawing 1-1 with Nordsjaelland in the Conference League. Rangers, by contrast, missed out on Europe entirely this season after a disappointing Conference League play-off defeat to Czech side Jablonec in August.

McInnes admitted there was a tinge of envy watching midweek continental football, but stressed the only dividend from their continental absence is domestic success.

"Of course we would rather be in Europe and there was a wee bit of envy watching last night, but the only benefit from that is if we can be successful domestically," he said. "It does give us longer to prepare for games but it doesn't guarantee anything."

Call for improvement after Kilmarnock

Rangers returned from the international break with a 3-1 win over Kilmarnock last weekend, but McInnes warned his players they must raise their level significantly against Dundee, citing a concerning second-half drop-off against Kilmarnock.

"Having the players in this week has allowed us to go into the game in better shape," he said. "It doesn't guarantee anything, of course, but once the game starts, hopefully we can deliver a big performance.

"We can't have the performance we had in the second half last week. The drop-off was too big, although there were maybe a lot of reasons for that. There will be no reason for that this week. It's up to us to deliver a big performance and recognise that we need to get more. We need to keep stepping on the gas and deliver the big performances we're looking for."

From pressure to pacesetters

The calm tone marks a striking turnaround in fortunes for McInnes. As recently as 20 September 2026, Rangers had sealed a second Old Firm win in a week against Celtic, prompting former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday to reflect on how quickly the mood had shifted. "Take it back a month when Derek McInnes was under real pressure," Halliday said on BBC Scotland's Sportsound. "A big thing that was quite confusing to people is: 'it doesn't look like a Derek McInnes team'. They don't look organised off the ball, they don't look aggressive, they don't look athletic. How that narrative has completely changed over the last three, four weeks. That for me is a Derek McInnes team, what we watched today. Front foot, aggressive, making contact with people, when they win the ball back playing forward, running forward and putting Celtic under [pressure]."

The seven-match winning sequence referenced in current reporting underlines just how far that revival has advanced heading into the Dundee test.