Scottish Premier League: Rangers striker Dado Prso believes a home victory at Ibrox in tomorrow's second Old Firm match of the season would place seeds of doubt in the minds of a buoyant Celtic squad.

Gordon Strachan takes his players across Glasgow with a 16-point advantage at the summit of the Scottish Premier League, but a new-found confidence is prevalent at Rangers after successive victories over Hibernian and Partizan Belgrade. Prso says Celtic have encountered little resistance during their impressive domestic run, something the striker senses may work to Rangers' advantage.

"The game is important for our confidence and we want to close the gap," Prso said. "We want to see how (Celtic) would react, so we are looking to win the game. It is the first home game against Celtic this season, we have not started so well in the league and we want to prove we are a good side. They have had an exceptional run in the SPL, 13 wins from 15 games, but maybe they can have some bad results, and if we start winning we will see how they react."

Prso's manager, Paul Le Guen, refused to discuss the prospect of cutting the difference between the sides to 13 points, the Frenchman preferring to point to the progress which has taken place at Ibrox in the past week.

"I know the gap is wide but it is most important to win first and worry about the repercussions later," he said. "We need to carry on our momentum and will chip away at the lead."

Celtic will be without the injured Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Gary Caldwell and Shaun Maloney, while Rangers miss Chris Burke and Kris Boyd.

Strachan, meanwhile, could know on Monday if Steven Pressley will join Celtic in January. The former Hearts captain recently left the Edinburgh club following his criticism of their owner, Vladimir Romanov. Pressley was invited to Celtic Park last Monday for an informal meeting with Strachan, who briefly played for Coventry City at the same time as the 33-year-old Scotland defender.

Strachan said: "Steven Pressley and I have known each other for a long, long time. We thought we would get together on Monday and it was great. We were talking about football and what we have been doing the last few years and seeing if there was something that could be done to get us working together again."

The Parkhead side were yesterday drawn against AC Milan for the second time in three years in the Champions League and Strachan described the draw as "absolutely thrilling", then admitted he was glad to have avoided Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

In September 2004, in their group-section double-header, Milan beat the Parkhead side 3-1 in Italy before holding out for a goalless draw at Celtic Park in the return game.

Strachan said: "I know AC Milan are full of world-class players and it's going to be a problem but we look forward to that problem.I was happy not to be drawn against an English team. We have been there quite a lot recently . . . So it was nice to be drawn to go elsewhere."

Strachan's side will play the first match at Celtic Park on February 20th before travelling to the San Siro for the return on March 7th.

•  Guardian Service