A SECOND-HALF Olivier Ntcham strike ensured Celtic stretched their unbeaten run against Rangers to 12 games at Parkhead.

Brendan Rodgers saw his side dominate their first encounter of the season with the team managed by his former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.

The Ibrox club fought hard to get back into the game after falling behind and James Tavernier went close to levelling with a shot in the 89th minute.

But the double treble winners outclassed their city rivals from start to finish and could and really should have won by a far more comfortable margin.

The 1-0 triumph moved Celtic four points clear of Rangers in the Ladbrokes Premiership and to within three points of early top flight leaders Hearts.

Rodgers brought in three players who had sat out the 3-0 win over FK Suduva in the second leg of the Europa League play-off on Thursday night.

Leigh Griffiths, Mikey Johnston, and Scott Sinclair were replaced by Odsonne Edouard, James Forrest and Tom Rogic up front, wide on the right and just off the lione str

Gerrard, meanwhile, made two changes to the Rangers team which had drawn 1-1 with Ufa in Russia on Thursday evening to secure a place in the group stages of the Europa League.

Winger Daniel Candeias and right back Jon Flanagan, who had been ordered off in their European tie, were replaced by Kyle Lafferty and Borna Barisic

The visitors fielded an attacking 4-4-2 line-up with Alfredo Morelos and Lafferty up front in attack.

But the home team created their first scoring opportunity when James Forrest cut inside from the right and fed Edouard inside him.

Scott Arfield, making his Glasgow derby debut, did superbly to dispossess the striker inside the Rangers penalty box and clear the ball to safety.

But that passage of play very much set the tone for a match that Celtic dominated completely.

Rangers had Allan McGregor to thanks for keeping them level – their goalkeeper produced a series of important saves in the first 45 minutes.

The best of them came five minutes before half-time when Callum McGregor supplied Edouard with a cross from the edge of the box.

The French striker got his header on target, but his effort was palmed wide by the Scotland international.

But Allan McGregor was perhaps lucky to be on the park at that point – he kicked out at Kristoffer Ajer after collecting a free-kick by his namesake and clearing.

Ajer was left writhing in agony on the ground, but the off-the-ball incident wasn’t spotted by match official Willie Collum or his assistant Frank Connor.

Celtic struck the Rangers crossbar twice in the space of two minutes in the first-half – first when Forrest tried his luck from long-range and then when Mikael Lustig got on the end of a Ntcham corner.

Gerrard’s men offered next to nothing going forward. Ryan Jack fired a long-range shot over the cross bar in the 15th minute.

But that was the sum total of their attacking endeavours. Ajer and Boyata marshalled Morelos and Lafferty well.

The half-time statistics told the story – Celtic had enjoyed 75 per cent of the possession and had had nine attempts on goal.

The second-half started as the first had finished – with Celtic laying siege to the Rangers goal and McGregor keeping his team in it.

Ntcham tried his luck from fully 20 yards out in the 49th minute and the keeper did superbly to tip his low effort onto the crossbar.

Rangers managed to get their first attempt on target in the 54th minute, but Craig Gordon was untroubled by Nikola Katic’s tame header.

But taking a less cautious and defensive approach left Rangers open at the back and allowed Celtic to take the lead eight minutes later.

Rogic stole the ball off Jack in his own half and broke upfield before passing to Edouard who was lurking just outside the Rangers box.

The forward fed the ball to Forrest outside him and the winger squared across the face of goal to Ntcham who was unmarked.

The French midfielder side-footed beyond McGregor to the delight of the vast majority of those in the sell-out crowd.

Griffiths replaced Edouard five minutes later and nearly set up another goal with his first touch of the game.

Lustig got on the end of his short corner and sent a glancing header just wide of the right post.

Rangers pushed hard for an equaliser and Morelos did well to beat Boyata, force his way into the Celtic box and force a save from Gordon.

Ryan Christie came on for the excellent Rogic and Sinclair took over from Forrest for Celtic while Glenn Middleton replaced Jack and Candeias came on for Ryan Kent for Rangers.

Christie won a free-kick just outside the box when he was tripped by Connor Goldson with five minutes remaining and Allan McGregor again showed good reactions to deny a Griffiths effort that came through his defensive wall.

Collum booked six players – Brown for a rash challenge on Lafferty, Barisic for scything down Forrest, Edouard for a stamp on Ryan Jack, Allan McGregor for time-wasting, Morelos for chopping down Brown and Goldson for tripping Christie.