After a week of turbulence that seemed like it would end in disaster, Rangers steadied the ship and sent home a reminder of dominance with a 1-0 win against Celtic on Sunday.

The reserved display in Armenia on Thursday paid dividends as Rangers managed to regain a level of composure that has abandoned the team during the start of this season.

After such high expectations from Celtic fans, it was remarkable to see such little resistance from the challengers to the throne. Until Rangers took the lead and Celtic had to push for an equaliser, they offered no suggestion that “Ange-ball” could challenge the dominance Rangers asserted last season. While their defence was more composed than expected, their attacking players offered little threat against a defensive structure that woke up after a nervy few weeks.

Through the spine of the team, Rangers’ composure that led the club to a long overdue 55th title was evident once again. The centre halves dealt with Edouard accordingly. The Celtic midfield had some space in the first half, but Davis eventually roared into action to take control. Further up the pitch, the attackers provided good out balls and Kent was unlucky not to find the net in the first half.

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When it mattered, Rangers took control of the derby. Kamara’s ability to dictate the game far outweighed Callum McGregor’s influence. An unfit Kent still provided more threat than the forward line of Celtic. A calm and rational approach to Celtic’s attempt to overload attacks worked well and restricted goal scoring opportunities. Normal service was resumed as Rangers unpicked Celtic from a set piece as Helander made a clever run that went unmatched.

The outcome of Rangers and Celtic’s league games has been identical until Sunday, yet the levels of optimism and pessimism have been polarised. On top of Covid problems, you would struggle to find any Rangers fan who didn’t feel their expectations drop further when the rumour was confirmed and Balogun started at right back. It seemed inevitable that the out of position centre back would be exposed, yet he deservedly left Ibrox with the man of the match award. While he couldn’t fulfil Tavernier’s attacking abilities, his defensive abilities were excellent. Rarely caught out of position and exceptional in one-on-one situations, Balogun deservedly took the plaudits after a ropey start to the season.

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If Rangers started the season with some anxiety relating to the favourites tag, that should now be shaken off. The ever-present McGregor and Tavernier were missing yet the team still won the first Old Firm of the season. The rest of the squad blocked out the excessive noise surrounding a couple of good results for Celtic and left the game with the correct result. Tavernier has been pivotal to Rangers’ attacks for five years now, yet the team managed without him. McGregor saved Rangers in derbies on multiple occasions, yet a third choice keeper in McCrorie still managed to make a crucial save and exuded confidence in managing his box throughout the 90 minutes.

The squad depth and quality is still incredibly strong and far outweighs that of the challengers. While the transfer window comes to a close soon and some changes to squads may still occur, it seems unlikely the two squads can materially change to such an extent that the starting XIs should hugely differ in September. Any changes now are either additions to aid depth or bids that are too good to resist; the core of the squad does not change in the final days of the window.

The momentum now lies with Rangers. We are champions and we’ve shown we can cope with “Ange-ball”. When we can leave behind transfer speculation and Covid issues, the team is more than ready to maintain the title. Celtic’s style will blow many teams away this season, but their manager’s lack of interest in defensive mishaps will cost them on many occasions.

Rangers are strong favourites. It's time for the players to embrace this and push on for another title win. The promised land of automatic Champions League qualification should be too difficult an incentive to resist.