Former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson reckons the Ibrox dressing room should not need a "rallying cry" from James Tavernier to recognise the importance of the clash with Hearts.
Gio van Bronckhorst's men can go top of the table - at least temporarily - with a win over in Gorgie due to Celtic kicking off later in the day when they face Motherwell. Rangers went into the international break on a high after bringing a three game winless run to an end against Dundee United, while Ange Postecoglou's champions slipped up against St Mirren 24 hours later in Paisley.
It cut the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership and Ibrox captain Tavernier looked to continue the upwards momentum when he insisted the title race was far from over, and stated they were close to their best form again. The Rangers captain was keen to point out that there wasn't a huge gap between themselves and Celtic despite a sluggish start.
Ferguson reckoned the comments came across as a rallying call to the players, telling The Go Radio Football Show: "There is plenty of time, but they need to up the performances. That needs to start at Tynecastle on Saturday.
'It was a surprise result for Celtic against St Mirren, I didn't see it coming. I don't think anybody saw St Mirren taking three points off Celtic, and now there is only two points in it.
'Rangers need to go to Tynecastle and put a bit of pressure on Celtic. I fully expect Celtic to beat Motherwell, but you never know. You go one point ahead, you are top of the league and you throw it back at Celtic and see if they can handle it.
"With the result with Celtic you are back in it. At five points, I would never say it's over at five points, but before St Mirren Celtic were looking relentless and blowing teams away,
"You are back to two points. The focus is on getting the three points at Tynecastle and putting the pressure on Celtic, whether that is playing good, bad or indifferent.
"The captain should be doing that, a rallying cry. But the players should be up for it anyway, they shouldn't need to do rallying cries. But it gets the fans fired up for what is a massive afternoon."
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