RANGERS are eight points clear of Kilmarnock and Aberdeen and second place in the Premiership this season is theirs to lose right now.

Steven Gerrard won’t allow his players to give up in the league and settle for second best.

But, if we don’t win the league, it is important that they finish as far ahead of the teams below them as possible so there is still plenty to play for in the final five league games.

Rangers’ record against the other teams in the top six isn’t that great this season so this is a chance for them to put that right and to hopefully put together a run between now and the end of the campaign.

Steven will be frustrated at the results against the likes of Kilmarnock and Aberdeen and Rangers can’t afford to be slack in any of the last few fixtures or they will be punished once again.

Rangers are comfortably ahead of them but are still thinking just what could have been if they hadn’t dropped so many stupid points over the course of the season.

They have been their own worst enemy at times - even going all the way back to the first game at Pittodrie when they lost two points late on.

That result put them behind the eight ball straight away and results like that have really undermined their title challenge this term.

Look at how many times Celtic have left it late but still won it. That is the sign of a team that is able to win ugly and that is what puts you on course for league titles.

Rangers haven’t done enough of that and they have to learn how to do that and how to overcome these teams more regularly than they have done this season.