Despite Celtic's best efforts, Glasgow Rangers maintained their 16-point lead at the summit of the Scottish Premiership with a 2-0 win at St. Mirren on Wednesday night.

Rangers have now won four in a row across all competitions as they seem to have shaken off any lingering effects from the chastening 3-2 defeat to the Saints in the Scottish League Cup earlier this month.

However, Jim Goodwin's side threatened to derail their momentum, as they came close to toppling the league leaders on several occasions, only to be denied by the combined efforts of Connor Goldson and Allan McGregor.

Goldson was colossal at the back, but Filip Helander's latest display left a lot to be desired, which will no doubt give Steven Gerrard genuine cause for concern ahead of the Old Firm clash with Celtic at the weekend.

The Swedish centre-back was unveiled as a marquee signing when he first arrived at Ibrox after signing from Bologna on a four-year deal for a reported £3.5m fee in 2019.

But Helander has looked shaky at the back at best when in possession and flaky when defending, and his latest showing against the Saints was a typical example of the performances Rangers fans have come to expect from the Sweden international, who spent three seasons with the Serie A outfit.

The Gers may have cruised to a comfortable 2-0 victory over the Saints but the centre-back was abysmal, as he lost possession 21 times throughout the entire game. It's hard to point the finger directly at any player in particular after such a strong team performance overall, but Helander was a bit of a liability.

He was also caught out of position at the back on a regular basis, particularly in the first half, as Jonathan Obika came close to scoring twice in quick succession, committing one foul in the process, as per SofaScore.

Helander, who reportedly earns £9,300-a-week, sprayed long balls left and right but largely failed to find the target, as he produced just three accurate long balls from a whopping 19 attempts.

It sounds crazy to say after such a comfortable scoreline, but the Swede badly betrayed Gerrard last night.

Even though Helander took 96 touches of the ball, he struggled to make all of that possession count, as he failed to record a single cross or single key pass, despite playing the full 90' minutes.

After being left on the bench against Hibernian, this was his chance to make a real statement with Leon Balogun waiting in the wings, but it's fair to say that he did anything but after he let his manager down massively with his display last night. He can only be grateful Goldson put in a worldie of a performance beside him at the back.

In fact, it's worth pointing out only Steven Davis received a worse rating than the struggling defender. We must admit it would be a bit of a surprise to see him start in a few days time after such a dismal showing.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers defender Connor Goldson stole the show against St. Mirren...