Kenny Miller insists the final two Old Firm clashes are 'really big' for Michael Beale to show the gap between the Glasgow rivals is not that big.
The former Rangers and Celtic striker has described the Premiership run of results under the man who replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst as 'incredible' with Ange Postecoglou and his troops remaining nine points clear at the summit due to their own relentless charge for back to back titles by matching the results of the Light Blues stride for stride.
The first meeting between the pair under Beale ended 2-2 at Ibrox with Kyogo Furuhashi levelling late on in Govan while Celtic lifted the League Cup after victory at Hampden. Miller knows his former club never reached anywhere near the levels he knows they can at the national stadium and says there is a lot to come more to come from the team.
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He has highlighted the importance of the final two derbies for the 42-year-old and says it is an opportunity for Rangers to make a real statement and says their aim has to be retaining the Scottish Cup.
He told the BBC: "The performances now are better than what they were pre-World Cup. There are 12 league games Michael has had and he's won 11 and drawn one, it's really strong, incredible. All the doom and gloom and criticism is coming because they lost the cup final an unfortunately that can happen.
"You want to win the cup at the end of the day and the fact they never plus never performed to the levels everybody knows they can, that is where the disappointment comes in. But they need to dust themselves down as Michael has got more out the players than there was previously.
"It's not a bad thing to be winning games when you are not top of your game and it is still early in Michael's reign, so there is going to be a lot more to come from this team. Their aim has to be to get this Scottish Cup.
"If they can close the gap on Celtic between now and the end of the season, that would be great. I think the two Old Firms are really big for Michael as it's a chance to show Celtic aren't that much better than Rangers and I am sure he believes that."
Rangers are back in action this evening as they face a trip to Easter Road to face Hibs.
Both sides are on form with the hosts on a seven game unbeaten run. They've won five and drawn two in that run with it promising to be a blockbuster occasion in the capital under the lights.
The last fixture ended in a five-goal thriller at Ibrox with Beale coming out on top in his first game as Rangers boss.
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