Celtic on high, Vaslav Cerny leads Rangers & bosses under pressure

It comes with the territory these days that you can look at all six Premiership fixtures this weekend and make a case for at least one manager in each being under particular pressure.

Probably part from Tannadice, where Dundee United host Ross County after both picked up creditable away draws last time out.

Simo Valakari heads to Motherwell on Saturday with no concerns about his job, but the Finn will be keen to avoid a third straight defeat that would undermine the feelgood factor that accompanied his switch from Riga to become St Johnstone manager last month.

Similarly, and at the same time, Dundee arrive at Pittodrie, where Jimmy Thelin faces the first test of his ability to lift Aberdeen from a major disappointment after their 16-game unbeaten run since the Swede arrived from Elfsborg came to a crashing halt at the hands of Celtic at Hampden.

Dundee’s comeback from two goals down to beat Kilmarnock 3-2 last weekend will not have helped Derek McInnes maintain his position as the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next Rangers manager should Clement lose his job.

Shortly after McInnes looks to improve his CV against Celtic on Sunday, Clement will be hoping to build on Sunday’s League Cup semi-final win over Motherwell and Thursday’s creditable draw with Olympiakos in Piraeus – and further dissipate talk of a crisis at Ibrox.

However, perhaps the most unique challenge facing a manager comes at Easter Road on Saturday, when Stephen Robinson looks to avoid a fourth consecutive away defeat with a St Mirren squad coming to terms with their latest off-field misdemeanours.

Having parted company with defender Shaun Rooney following an assault charge, this week they terminated Kevin van Veen’s loan from Groningen after the striker appeared in court charged with domestic abuse, while left-back Jaden Brown is awaiting sentence for driving offences.

Visiting a Hibs side sitting bottom of the table with head coach David Gray under pressure after a run of six games without a win could be welcome relief considering they won on both their visits to Paisley last season.