‘Phenomenal’: Rangers hailed by former Celtic star Chris Sutton amid Ibrox celebrations

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Praising Rangers may not always come easily to Chris Sutton, but he’s been left with little choice as the Ibrox side close in on their first top-flight title since 2011.

Steven Gerrard’s men require just one more point to be crowned champions, and the title race will be over as soon as this afternoon if Celtic drop points against Dundee United at Tannadice.

Saturday’s 3-0 win against St Mirren saw the leaders stretch their advantage to 21 points with just six games left to play, and continued a superb domestic run that has seen them drop just eight points in 32 games.

Sutton, who won four titles during his time at Celtic, believes Gerrard’s side were as good as champions by November.

Speaking on BBC 5 Live Sport, he said: “Celtic were so far ahead, and we can talk about Celtic imploding but you can’t take anything away from Rangers.

“I think they’ve conceded nine goals in the league this season. They haven’t just pipped Celtic.

“This league title was over in November and that’s a credit to Steven Gerrard and the belief he’s given the Rangers squad. They’ve been phenomenal.”

Steven Gerrard was effusive in his praise following the comfortable victory against Jim Goodwin’s team. He told Sky Sports: “We will see what happens tomorrow, it’s out of our control, I can only control the future games and now I will prepare the team for Europe, where we have a big incentive to get into the last eight.

“But tonight we want to let this soak and settle in, we’re on a big high because we know we are 99.9% there, and that is an incredible place to be in.

“This is a monumental achievement, what the players are about to achieve.

“We will recover tomorrow at the training base, have lunch together and I am sure the (Dundee United v Celtic) game will be on in the background, though we haven’t planned that.”

Anything less than a victory for Celtic in Dundee could see the home side forced to perform a guard of honour for Rangers before the derby at Celtic Park on March 21.