THERE is more chance of the Rangers board and John Brown coming together to sing Christmas carols than there is of the S Premiership flag flying anywhere other than above Celtic Park come the end of this season.

You have to go back to Aberdeen's success in 1985 to find the last time the trophy left Glasgow, the majority of the subsequent seasons a two-horse race with the other teams, by and large, filling the roles of also-rans. Not since the Pittodrie side went to Ibrox on the final day of the 1991 season needing a draw to be crowned champions - and failed to get it - has anyone even come close to breaking that duopoly.

Even given the struggles endured by Ronny Deila early in his Celtic tenure, it is hard to see this campaign being any different. Celtic's ascent to the top of the table has been a gradual one but they now sit four points clear going into the festive period. Given their superior resources and capacity to augment their squad in the looming transfer window, it is difficult to envisage anything other than that lead gradually getting bigger in the second part of the season.

There is at least still some hope, however, for those teams tucked in just behind them. Dundee United's victory on Sunday at least prevented Celtic from moving even further ahead, and means there are four clubs all within six points of the summit. In that strange, overly-polite way that football people operate, those leading the chase are the ones playing down talk of mounting a sustained threat to Celtic's supremacy. In contrast, those inside the Celtic camp are respectfully mindful that their job is only half done.

"Is there a title race? Yeah, definitely," said Adam Matthews, the Celtic defender. "I think the [Premiership] this year is strong. Aberdeen, Hamilton and Inverness have done well, so we know it's going to be tough.

"[Other teams saying there is no title race] is just them playing it down. If they're close to us they're going to want to make a title race of it. We know that the pressure is on us and we're expected to run away with it, but it's not going to happen like that in football. Every time someone plays Celtic they step up their game. We knew it was going to be tough at the start of the season and it's proving to be that.

"But we're where we want to be at the minute. I think we wanted a bigger gap, especially with the game in hand [against United on Sunday]. But we've got to focus on one game at a time and hopefully get the win next game."

Prior to 2012, Celtic knew there would always be pressure from Rangers each season and vice versa. Without that it would be easy for the Parkhead club to become complacent but Matthews denies that has been the case this year despite three losses in their opening 17 games.

"No, I don't think so. I think this season has proved that. When we're not on our game we get beat. That's why the gap is four points and people are within touching distance. We go into every game with the same mindset."

Disappointment at losing to United came with the caveat that Celtic had played well and also been on the receiving end of some poor refereeing decisions, with a Stefan Scepovic "goal" wrongly ruled out for offside.

"The goals we conceded were very sloppy goals and I think those were the only two good chances that we gave them," he added. "I think we had 10 good goalscoring chances and we should have taken at least a couple of them but we didn't do that.

"So we're disappointed but I feel we should have got something out of the game. I heard [Scepovic's strike was onside], but that's football sometimes - sometimes you get decisions and sometimes you don't. We had many more chances that we should have taken to win the game."

Leigh Griffiths provided a late spark for Celtic at Tannadice, scoring and then hitting the post with another effort. "He's looking good in training and he's a goalscorer," confirmed Matthews. "When he plays you've got a good chance and nine times out of 10 he will put it away. He took his goal really well and he was unlucky with the one that hit the post. He's training really well but obviously we've got a lot of good strikers with [John] Guidetti, Scepovic and Griff. They're all training well."