Scotland: Advantage Celtic

Celtic took a major step towards defending their Scottish Premier League title today without setting foot on the pitch.  Glasgow Rangers drew 1-1 at Motherwell, giving Celtic the opportunity to win the title in their final match.  Rangers trail Celtic by three points, but have only one game at hand with two to play.  If Celtic win their Thursday match away to fourth-placed Dundee United, they should capture the league on goal differential, assuming Rangers win their last two. Celtic currently lead their city rivals by seven in that department.

The strain of Rangers crowded fixture list seems to be catching up with them.  Today's match was the third in a stretch of six matches in 15 days, and came three days after their devastating loss in the UEFA Cup Final.  Christian Dailly's 29th minute tally put Rangers up at the half, but Chris Porter drew the sides level five minutes after the break.