Strachan however is not counting them or McLeish out just yet. "We are always only one game away from a crisis at the Old Firm," he said.

"I might be the crisis man next week. We will just have to play the game and see what happens after that."

Strachan had a baptism of fire at Parkhead, failing to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League and then losing his first Old Firm clash 3-1 at Ibrox in August.

Since then, however, the Hoops have been in fine form, winning 10 of their last 11 matches, and Strachan has been embraced by the Parkhead faithful.

Form however is rarely a factor in the heat of an Old Firm battle.

"I don't know if we are favourites - I've not been in a bookies," he said.

"But we have played in one derby and it didn't go to plan, that is for sure.

"We don't want to get too intense about it because too much of that in your build-up and the players can get too psyched up. Hopefully, we have done the right things."

Strachan will again be without inspirational figure Chris Sutton after he failed to recover from a knee problem.

The Celtic boss now has only John Hartson and Shaun Maloney available as senior strikers and admits, with Maciej Zurawski and Craig Beattie also on the sidelines, losing one more forward would be a concern.