Rangers slip up again as Celtic pull clear

Kyogo Furuhashi scored twice as Celtic thrashed bottom side St Johnstone 4-0 to further extend their advantage at the Scottish Premiership summit.

Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda were also on target at Celtic Park, as the leaders pulled 14 points clear of second-place Rangers, who were held to a 2-2 draw by Motherwell.

Brendan Rodgers’ side broke through on the half-hour mark with Reo Hatate setting up Kuhn for his seventh goal of the season.

The hosts doubled their advantage just before the hour with their 50th league goal of the campaign, with Kyogo nodding home from close range after a well-worked corner.

Kyogo grabbed his second five minutes later, turning home Arne Engels’ inviting low cross, while substitute Maeda latched onto Paulo Bernardo’s throughball to seal the rout in the 73rd minute.

Kyogo has now been directly involved in 11 goals in his last seven league appearances against St Johnstone.

Celtic are now even further clear of Rangers, who were forced to come from 2-0 down and settle for a point at Fir Park.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos poked Motherwell in front in the 16th minute, while Tawanda Maswanhise’s wonderful individual effort doubled Motherwell’s lead.

Philippe Clement introduced Hamza Igamane at the break, and the Moroccan halved the deficit within five minutes of the restart.

The hosts had two goals disallowed, with VAR twice denying Tony Watt, before Igamane brought Rangers level on 68 minutes, though the visitors could not find the winning goal as they fell further adrift of Celtic.

Ending 2024 with another big win!#CELSTJ | #CelticFCpic.twitter.com/yU4d1L9Vfo

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 29, 2024