Barry Ferguson has urged Rangers to seize their kick-off time advantage and put Celtic under some early title race pressure.
A shock weekend of Premiership results last weekend where St Mirren beat the Hoops 2-0 means that with their match beginning at 12:30pm next Saturday, Rangers can go top with victory at Hearts ahead of Celtic kicking off versus Motherwell two-and-a-half hours later.
Ferguson believes it's an ideal chance for Giovanni van Bronckhorst's men to see what Celtic are made of when they are the chasing pack, even if it is only for a brief period, after a tough September brought three bruising Rangers losses to Ange Postecoglou's team, Ajax and Napoli.
Ferguson told Go Radio of the required standard at Ibrox and a big match with the Jambos: "If you want to play at a big and successful club, you need to play these teams and play three times a week. That's par for the course. Rangers next week, Tynecastle, it's a brilliant place to go and play.
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"A good atmosphere about it. It's a tough place to go but they are only two points behind.
"They need to go there and make sure. You would expect Celtic to beat Motherwell but go and put a bit of pressure on them, see how they handle it.
"If it goes 15, 20, 25 minutes goalless, fans perhaps get a bit edgy. It's a bonus if you play brilliant but these kind of games, you just need to make sure you get the three points."
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