Chris Sutton has urged Ange Postecoglou and his charges to ignore the noise and refocus to win the league title. 

The Celtic legend knows all about the Glasgow pressure cooker from his own days amidst the drama. 

Rangers’ win in the Scottish Cup semi-final has cranked up the tension ahead of the match with Ross County on Sunday. 

And pundit Sutton is only too aware of the panicky reaction such results can bring from die-hards desperate to see the team defeat their bitter rivals. 

He told the Daily Record: “It’s now about the reaction from Celtic from Hampden. We know what it’s like in this country. There’s a blip and fans start panicking. 

“They lose one game to Rangers and they feel like they won’t win another one every again, and vice versa. It doesn’t work like that. 

“I don’t think the Scottish Cup defeat will affect Celtic. It was always going to be a tall order winning all four derby games after the New Year. 

“This is a very good Rangers team. You just need to look at their exploits in Europe. There’s not a lot between the sides and the results can go either way. 

“We know what it’s like in Glasgow. When one team is on top then everyone thinks they are fantastic and the other lot are hopeless. 

“That might have been the case for the last decade when Celtic wiped the floor for nine years and last season when Rangers were over the horizon. 

“But it wasn’t before then and it’s not now. 

“I look at my time at the club. We know we had a strong side with Henrik Larsson, Pail Lambert, Alan Thomson, Johan Mjallby and so on but Rangers were packed with quality, with the likes of the De Boers, Arthur Numan, Barry Ferguson and Michael Mols. 

“We knew we had to perform at a really high level to beat them. I couldn’t stand Rangers but I certainly respected them. 

“Look at the season we got to Seville – Rangers won a Treble. 

“You could argue both clubs had successful seasons that year. That could be the case again if Celtic win the league and Rangers get to the final of the Europa League. 

“I don’t think either are quite at the level of those sides of 2003 but there is no doubt they are evenly matched.”