RONNY Deila reckons Rangers’ promotion to the Premiership will have little impact on his plans for Celtic next season.
Ibrox midfielder Andy Halliday said after Rangers clinched the Championship crown in midweek that he expects them to be challenging Celtic for the top-flight title next term.
Next weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final will allow early comparisons of the sides to be made, but, speaking ahead of today’s lunchtime league trip to Motherwell, Celtic manager Deila said of Rangers’ promotion: “It doesn’t affect us so much.
“They have shown they are good enough to be in the top division and if it’s Hibs, Falkirk or Rangers we’ll be ready for it, that’s how it is.”
Asked if he expected Mark Warburton’s side to be title challengers, he replied: “We’ll see, it is too early to say something about other teams. I have a lot of other things to think about.”
Deila is looking for top scorer Leigh Griffiths to get back on the goal trail in Lanarkshire. Griffiths’ haul for the season stands at 35, but, for the first time in the campaign, he has gone four games without scoring, a run that includes Scotland’s friendly against Denmark at Hampden Park last month.
Deila, who revealed defender Erik Sviatchenko will miss the Motherwell game with a thigh injury but should return for the semi-final, said: “He’s not tired that’s for sure. He’s ready. He gets good chances all the time so that’s the most important thing.
“We know how good a finisher he is and he will be back on track again, but we have others who can score.
“A week ago we had one winger [Patrick Roberts] scoring two and the other one [Gary Mackay-Steven] scored one, so we’re scoring a lot of goals.”
On Sviatchenko, who came off during the goalless draw against Dundee at Dens Park on Tuesday night, Deila said: “He’s out for tomorrow but will have an opportunity for next weekend.
“It could be five to seven days or it could be a little bit more, it’s hard to say, we’ll just have to see. He’s young and healing quickly.”
Motherwell could be pipped to a top-six place if they lose the clash, but Stephen McManus is just relieved to have avoided another relegation battle.
The Fir Park side, who retained their top-flight status by beating Rangers in the play-off final last term, were in 11th place as recently as mid-February after a defeat to Kilmarnock.
McManus said: “After the start we had and where we were at certain times of the season, sitting third-bottom, second-bottom, you would have taken staying in the division. But when you get so close to something you want it even more and we would love to finish in the top six.
“It would be a great achievement but if it is not to be for whatever reason, when we walked off the pitch against Kilmarnock we would have taken where we are now.
“If you had said to us that we would be in this situation with a game to go with the possibility of getting into the top six we would have bitten your hand off, because having gone through the experience last year of playing in the play-off games, it wasn’t enjoyable.”
Motherwell manager Mark McGhee has no fresh injury worries.
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