Former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart believes Martin O'Neill's return to Celtic has already put them on a surer footing.
O'Neill replaced the sacked Wilfried Nancy a week ago, having had a spell as interim manager before the Frenchman's appointment in early December.
And O'Neill maintained his 100% record in Scottish Premiership matches this season with Saturday's 4-0 home win over Dundee United. After all of the weekend games, Celtic remain six points off leaders Hearts but can cut that gap to three points with victory at Falkirk on Wednesday evening.
"I don't know so much about favourites, but they're certainly in a far better place to be able to mount a challenge," Stewart told the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast.
"Because they were sinking fast under Wilfried Nancy. There was no way they were going to be… I mean, if they'd left that any longer, then they would have been sinking without a trace, to be perfectly honest.
"And in a sort of perverse universe, it's probably worked out the better in the long run for them that they lost to Rangers. Because had they drawn or beaten Rangers, he wouldn't have been sacked and you just know that just around the corner there was going to be more dropped points.
"There's no way that that was going to work out."
