Philippe Clement pleads with Rangers fans to 'stick together' as Celtic handed title initiative after Dundee stalemate

Philippe Clement has issued a rallying cry to supporters to stick by his Rangers side - insisting the Premiership title is “still in our hands” following a crushing 0-0 draw with Dundee.

The Ibrox side have endured a catastrophic couple of days as they followed up Sunday’s dismal 3-2 defeat against Ross County with a similarly disappointing performance at Dens Park.

With the prospect of clinching the trophy now seemingly hanging by a thread with three points to make up on Old Firm rivals Celtic having played the same amount of games, Clement has vowed to turn things around quickly starting against Hearts in this weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final tie at Hampden Park.

“I don’t speak about favourites. I didn’t do it a few weeks ago, I will not do it now,” Clement told BBC Sportsound. “If we win all the games we still have our fate in our hands. Now we need to put these things to the side because on Sunday it’s a cup game, semi-final, big game and all the focus will be on that.”

The pendulum has swung firmly in Celtic’s favour, but Clement refused to concede their title bid is over when it was put to him that some supporters already felt their league challenge was over even before tonight’s result.

“In October I think all the fans thought the league was over,” the Belgian declared. “If we win all five games they’re going to be really happy. So we’re going to fight for that like the team has done the six months I’ve been with them.”

Asked if he had a message for Rangers fans, Clement continued: “They need to stick with the team, that’s super important because it’s winning together and losing points together. I know as a fan you can be full of emotions after a game, but they’ve been great in the last couple of months.

“They’ve been pushing the team on during difficult moments and that’s what I expect also in this situation. They expect their team to give everything to win games and maybe in the next couple of weeks they can push the team over the line or the ball over the line.”