Surprise leaders Heart of Midlothian host second-top Celtic, with Rangers, third on goal difference, waiting to take advantage as they host Dundee. Former Rangers midfielder Charlie Adam, one-time Celtic and Hearts midfielder Paul Hartley and Barry McKay, who played on the wing for Hearts and Rangers, all agree it is too close to call and are relishing what is now a three-horse race.
Hearts midfielder Cammy Devlin faces up to eight weeks out with a lower leg injury. The Australia international, 27, sustained the injury during Tuesday's 2-0 home win over St Mirren at Tynecastle, coming off in added time. Devlin has made 27 appearances for the Scottish Premiership leaders this season, scoring once. Capped four times for his country, the former Wellington Phoenix player is out of contract at the end of the season.
Another pivotal weekend of action in the Scottish Premiership awaits, with permutations at the top and bottom of the division. On Saturday, Celtic host Dundee United in their first match since Wilfried Nancy's sacking, in-form Hibernian take on high-flying Motherwell, the league's bottom two sides go head-to-head as Livingston face Kilmarnock, while St Mirren welcome Falkirk to Paisley. League-leaders Hearts go to Dundee on Sunday, before Aberdeen and Rangers meet for the second time in six days.
I'm not pumping my own tyres up here. It's going to be real hard work in terms of what we're going to try and achieve. It's all about players, completely about the players in terms of what they do on the pitch. We can affect that by information. But when it boils down to it, for this group I just feel it's getting that first win. If we get our first win, I think we'll catch fire.
He, like all Hearts' signings, went through Jamestown Analytics' assessment and passed the test. "If he had rated poorly, we wouldn't have signed him. It just wouldn't have got over the line," McInnes said of Findlay on Open Goal, external in October. "He's a brilliant boy in terms of being a brilliant team-mate. He allows you to play with that high line, gives you that left-sided balance."
"I don't think he lost the changing room. The players have got to take responsibility. I had a chat [with them]- a few home truths. It's sad that Jimmy's lost his job, but the games are coming thick and fast and I've got to pick them up for tomorrow. It's a clean slate, a fresh start. I'll pick the team that I think is good enough to get a result."
"You have two stories today," Rangers boss Danny Rohl told BBC Scotland following the statement win. "One, we can turn things in one half to come back 3-1 and win this game. The second story, we have a centre-forward in Youssef who scores fantastic goals."
"For sure, it's difficult, because I know what we can do," Nancy said of Celtic's form. "I know what I can do also. But I know that, as a coach, we are judged on results. "That's why this is difficult to accept personally, because I know that we are on the right track. And it's difficult for me. But, again, I'm going to take it."
Peter Lawwell is standing down as Celtic chairman at the end of December, citing "abuse and threats from some sources". The Scottish champions' board have been the subject of fan protests this season following a disappointing summer transfer window, their exit from the Champions League and with the current side sitting behind Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premiership.
