Callum McGregor will do his talking on the pitch as Celtic prepare for Rangers

Celtic captain Callum McGregor will go into the first Old Firm game of the season with a “talk’s cheap” attitude.

The Hoops’ impressive start to the 2024-25 campaign continued on Sunday with a convincing 3-0 win at St Mirren in the Premiership.

McGregor fired the visitors ahead within three minutes with his second goal of the season before further goals from fellow midfielder Reo Hatate and full-back Alistair Johnston made it four wins out of four in all competitions for the champions ahead of Sunday’s visit of Rangers.

Rangers boss Philippe Clement, after his side’s 6-0 win over Ross County at Hampden Park on Saturday, claimed the Gers will be on the front foot at Celtic Park.

However, McGregor will ignore any sort of fighting talk from the other side of the city.

He said: “It’s just talk isn’t it and talk’s cheap.

“It’s a big game. I think when you come to these games, especially at home, you have to try and maximize it as much as you can and, first and foremost, that means three points.

“And if you can match it with a strong performance, then of course, that would be the ideal world for everyone, but we know it’s never as easy as that.

“Rangers are a good side, obviously a really good result on Saturday, so we know it will be a tough game.

“We have to give everything that we’ve got in the tank for the game, and hopefully we can have a positive afternoon.”

McGregor, however, admits emotions do come into play in derby week but says they have to be controlled.

He said: “It’s hard to take that (emotion) away. I think as much as players and everyone in football tries to dampen it down, it’s a big game.

“So you have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy the responsibility and the experience. So yeah, of course, we need emotion.

“To be honest, everyone knows how big the games are and when they come around, you probably don’t need any added motivation for it.

“But for us, we have a structure and a system and the way that we want to train, first and foremost.

“We try and get the most out of the players as possible. If that becomes a daily habit, then when you arrive in the big moments it should be second nature for you.

“So again, you have to have a little bit of emotion and emotion is good in football.

“A lot of the time it’s, ‘here’s the structure, if we do this a lot of the time, then, the probability is you’ll have a good day’.

“So it’s as much about trying to keep the players calm. Obviously, when we arrive to the game then the emotion is important, because you need that, especially in these types of fixtures. But for most of the week, it’s just business as usual.”