Celtic boss Tony Mowbray cannot wait for his first taste of an Old Firm derby from the other side of the touchline when his side travels to Ibrox.

Hosts Rangers sit four points behind their Glasgow rivals in second place in the SPL and need a win to ensure they are not left too far adrift.

Walter Smith hopes forwards Kenny Miller and Kyle Lafferty will both be fit, but Lee McCulloch and Kevin Thomson look set to miss out with a flu bug and back pains respectively.

Mowbray will hand late fitness tests to defender Andreas Hinkel and winger Paddy McCourt after the pair picked up knocks, but Scott Brown will continue in the midfield despite an ankle injury.

And Mowbray, who has played and scored in Old Firm derbies, said: “It’ll be a competitive game of football and we hope it will be a good game as well.

“It will be intense on Sunday. I know that. It was intense when I played in the 1990s and that hasn’t changed. It’s a massive game between two huge clubs from the same city. We both want to win the league every year and it will be very competitive.”