The feeling of optimism at Ibrox prior to the last time they visited Celtic Park was very real. Mark Warburton was still the man, Joey Barton had the potential to be a star and Rangers were poised to compete with Brendan Rodgers' Bhoys.

How quickly that faded away when Moussa Dembele belted home a hat-trick on the Hoops' way to a 5-1 victory, though.

Heading into a repeat of that fixture this Sunday, Rangers supporters must be fearful of what lies ahead at Celtic Park this time around. If anything Celtic have become a better side since then, whereas Rangers have, arguably regressed. They are currently leaderless and without serious guidance after the departure of Warburton.

However, Graeme Murty will organise his team to the best of his ability and put together a gameplan that he hopes to get a result, or one that at least ensures they are competitive.

Here are the THREE things Murty must instruct his team to do if they are to avoid another heavy defeat...

Shut down the left-hand side

After playing St Mirren on Saturday, Brendan Rodgers said that the Buddies were the best side he has come up against this season. Assuming he was talking about their performance and not their ability on paper, we can take from his comments that the tactics employed by Jack Ross' side are the most effective in countering the threat Celtic carry.

What St Mirren did on Saturday was squeeze the space on the Celtic's left-hand side, effectively leaving the door open on the right. That ensured that the Hoops consistently attacked on that flank, which is inferior to their strengths on the left in the form of Kieran Tierney and Scott Sinclair.

If James Tavernier and his team-mates can put in a similar shift on Sunday to try and keep Sinclair and Tierney out of the game, it could be enough to ensure Celtic have a tough time breaking the Rangers defence down.

Exploit over-confidence in the wide areas

Celtic are out for a big win on Sunday, you can sense it. After two narrow victories at Hampden and Ibrox, they'll relish the opportunity to rack up another big score against their arch-rivals. They know that the last 5-1 game made them instant heroes with the Celtic supporters.

They'll attack from the off and really put the Gers under pressure, most likely utilising their full-backs in an attacking role.

That could leave space for the likes of Barrie McKay to exploit. We know how tricky, quick and dangerous the young Rangers winger can be and he put in quite the shift against the Bhoys on Hogmanay at Ibrox.

For the first half an hour in that match Rangers had Celtic rattled and it was all about exposing the space between the full-backs and central defenders. Can they do it again? And, more importantly, can they do it over 90 minutes?

Swamp Nir Bitton

Nir Bitton is Celtic's metronome in the middle of park, the man who recycles possession and ensures territory isn't lost when the Hoops have the ball. However, he's also arguably fairly weak when pressured and could be a part of the team ripe to be exploited if the likes of Andy Halliday can get in his face and ensure he doesn't have the time on the ball usually afford to him in the Scottish Premiership.

There's Scott Brown to contend with too of course and he's likely to make it an 'interesting' battle in the middle of the park.

Bitton is the key, though, if they can get at him then Brown may follow. Keeping these two off the ball is the answer to Rangers' possession problems in the three matches against Celtic so far this season.