They speak about “going for 55” here. An optimistic slogan referencing Rangers’ quest for a record 55th league title, adopted since their return to the top flight. It may not be repeated with such vigour from now on, though. Celtic reached that number first by beating Ross County last week, thus going 55 domestic games unbeaten.

This win takes them to 57. Another six without defeat and they will break a record that has stood for 100 years. On this showing, there is nobody left to stop them.

It took them a while to get going, even riding their luck at times in the first half, but this was another result to illustrate Celtic’s superiority over their city rivals.

Rangers had chances, good ones. Alfredo Morelos might have had a penalty, he probably should have scored with a header straight at Craig Gordon just before the hour mark, but there was always a sense that Celtic had another gear to move into, enough know-how to emerge unscathed.

“Games here, you have to defend well and be organised and we did that,” said the Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers. “We worked our way into the game and in the second half our conditioning and the quality of our players came through. After the first goal we had more chances to score. We could have had more.”

With a critical Champions League game against Anderlecht on Wednesday, Rodgers might have taken the chance to rotate his squad, such is the quality of his options. But this was about as strong as Celtic get, even if James Forrest’s omission in favour of Patrick Roberts seemed rather harsh on the Scotland international.

There were changes for Rangers, but only through necessity, with the teenager Ross McCrorie handed his first start as a result of injuries to Bruno Alves, Declan John and Lee Wallace. McCrorie was a first-half standout for the hosts, effectively keeping tabs on Leigh Griffiths. Josh Windass also looked lively, drawing the loudest cheer of the half for a nutmeg on Scott Brown.

Ultimately, that was as good as it got for Rangers, though, as Celtic emerged after the break a more composed side.

Rangers never managed to rediscover the early fight that resulted in the Rangers manager, Pedro Caixinha squaring up to Brown as the teams walked down the tunnel at half-time.

“You didn’t see it? You don’t want to help me?” Caixinha said when asked to explain the flare-up, accusing Brown of throwing an elbow into the face of Morelos.

“It’s the second time. The last one was in April in exactly the same place. So when Scott Brown was coming I told him: ‘If I were on the pitch, you would not do that.’

“I do it to defend my club and my players. I’m not afraid of anything.”

It did not take long after the break for the first blow to be struck, with Tom Rogic firing high into the net after a scuffed Roberts shot had somehow wriggled through the defence.

From then on, the visitors took a stranglehold, not so much in terms of possession, but in their control of the contest.

Griffiths began to find more space, stretching the pitch in the way the away side had failed to in the opening 45 minutes. It was the Scotland striker who made sure of the win after 65 minutes, sliding home a finish at the near post after a through ball by Roberts.

Seven games into the new season, eight points now stand between Celtic and Rangers. That gap is unlikely to narrow any time soon.

SCOTTISH ROUNDUP

A Murray Davidson header six minutes from time completed St Johnstone’s second-half comeback to beat Hamilton 2-1 at McDiarmid Park.

Greg Doherty created space for himself among a crowd of Saints’ defenders to shoot past Allan Mannus into the far corner of the net with 24 minutes played. Steven MacLean followed up a rebound to restore parity for the home side before Davidson met a cross from Scott Tanser to secure the win. Hamilton’s Darian MacKinnon was then sent off by the referee Willie Collum on 90 minutes for pulling down Paul Paton.

Paul Hanlon’s 13th-minute strike earned Hibernian three points at Ross County as Neil Lennon’s side moved above Rangers into fourth spot in the Premiership with a 1-0 win. Hanlon powered in John McGinn’s corner in the 13th minute and though Anthony Stokes was thwarted in his efforts to add to their lead, one goal proved to be enough.

The Kilmarnock captain, Gordon Greer, atoned for his early mistake by salvaging a point in a 1-1 draw against Dundee at Rugby Park.

Faissal El Bakhtaoui scored in the fourth minute after Greer had given the ball away, but the 36-year-old defender secured a draw when he struck following a 64th-minute corner. Both teams went in search of a winner and El Bakhtaoui hit the crossbar with an ambitious effort before the substitute Kris Boyd missed a fine late opportunity for the hosts. The draw leaves Killie still looking for their first league win of the season after they conceded the opening goal for the sixth time in their seven matches.

An improved second-half performance from Hearts earned them a point at Partick Thistle. Hearts went behind to the in-form Blair Spittal’s opener, who struck through the legs of the visitors’ goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin after 18 minutes. Ross Callachan’s header ten minutes from time gave Hearts a point but in controversial circumstances. The referee, Don Robertson, awarded the goal but Thistle’s Danny Devine was convinced he headed Callachan’s effort off the line. Partick have yet to win a league game this season. Nial Briggs