The gulf between Rangers and Celtic has never been so big, admits Ally McCoist.

The Ibrox legend insists he's concerned by just how far ahead the Scottish Premiership champions are of his former team in his view.

Philippe Clement's team were easily dispatched of last Sunday as the Hoops ran out 3-0 winners on home soil in the first derby encounter of the season.

That result saw Brendan Rodgers' team go five points clear at the top of the table after just four league matches.

And with Clement now winless in five games against Celtic, McCoist admits he's never seen the gap between the Old Firm this big.

"I can't remember, sadly, looking at Rangers and Celtic's team and seeing as big a gulf, which is a major, major concern," he told talkSport. "Celtic have dominated and have been better by a distance recently.

"I looked at the Cup Final last season. Could have went either way, the goalie makes a mistake and Celtic win it. You then look at the season and think, well, we'll see how it goes. And then boof, nah.

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"Celtic thoroughly deserved the victory. I look at Rangers and they look lacking in leadership, lacking in direction and it's a big concern. That said, from Celtic's point of view, they've had a great start to the season and fair play to them.

"I spoke to Brendan Rodgers this morning and as you can imagine, he was in top form. They've got the Champions League to look forward to, whereas we've got problems. We have got problems.

"It's hard to say but you've got to tell the truth. And the truth is Celtic looked miles ahead of us at this moment in time, all over the pitch.

"Particularly in forward areas, they look as though they've got boys who are lively and score goals. For me that's the big difference between the sides."