A DOZEN games gone and the smoke from the early salvoes has cleared to leave a familiar scene on the SPL battleground.

Despite claims that it's getting tougher for the Old Firm to win games, that the chasing pack of underdogs are now more than ever attempting to have a bite, the stats don't quite back up that argument.

Celtic, for all their horrid injury problems and fact they have had four Champions League ties to Rangers' none, remain the benchmark as to just how titles are won.

The consistency in terms of results, if not performances, has been outstanding from Gordon Strachan's players, who saw off Motherwell over the weekend to move onto the 31-point mark for the season - three more than they had accumulated at this stage a year ago.

Rangers, who responded to the first real gauntlet of the season being thrown down by their city rivals with a 4-0 thumping of Kilmarnock, have had the task laid bare to them in terms of wrestling this league flag out of Parkhead.

Walter Smith's men sit two adrift of their Old Firm foes on the 29-point mark, their current haul four more than the points they had in the bank after 12 matches last year.

So, even with an improved points return, the Ibrox side still find themselves trailing Celtic, and Smith knows there will have to be very few slip-ups if his men are going to go the distance and reclaim the major prize.

For all there has been improvement in the overall Scottish scene, are the Old Firm really being tested more?

They have cracked in 61 goals between them already this season, Rangers bagging 12 in their last three matches, and the fact that there is a 10-point gap between them and Dundee United in third tells its own story.

A year ago, at this juncture, United were just three behind in third position, with Hibs just a point adrift in fourth spot.

On their day, as United and St Mirren have shown already, points can be taken from the Old Firm, but this is shaping up as a season when the derby collisions may well have the final say.

The points were shared last time around - six apiece -and it was Celtic's ability to grind out win after win, especially on the road where Rangers tripped and fell flat on their faces too much, that took them to a third successive crown.

But it now appears that the majority of the SPL have a real problem dealing with the firepower the big two can aim at them, even when major players are removed from the respective arsenals. There has been resistance, more often than not token.

Unquestionably therefore, eyes and minds will drift to Ibrox and December 27, when the Glasgow giants will collide again.

There are seven matches to be negotiated before then but, on current form, it's hard to see where too many points will be lost on either side.

This could be a fascinating spell, the move into the winter months always quite crucial in defining the shape of the battle.

Clearly, Rangers are going to have to dig deep into the reserves and keep firing, as Celtic show no signs of surrendering their position of strength...