Thomas Rogne says the departure of Rangers’ top scorer Nikica Jelavic doesn’t put any more pressure on Celtic to win this season’s SPL title.

Jelavic moved to Everton on deadline day in a £5m move, weakening his former club’s attacking options at a time they find themselves trailing their rivals by a point.

Celtic have the chance to move four points clear if they defeat Hearts next midweek. Rogne though says his team are motivated enough to maintain their pursuit of their first league championship in four years.

"The only pressure we are under is the pressure we put on ourselves," he said. "Of course we want to win the title, we can't say otherwise.

"But it is only February and there is a long way to go so we don't think about that now, we just think that we have to play well and win the games.

"We have a small lead but we know that we need to stay focused every game, just a small slip-up and the other teams are right behind us.

"So it is going to be difficult and as I say, it is only the start of February so there is a long way to go."

Pressed on the impact the loss of Jelavic could have on Rangers’ title ambitions, the Celtic player responded: "We know Rangers is a good team no matter what. At the weekend they didn't have Jelavic and they still won 4-0 (against Hibs).

“So Rangers is always going to be a good team and so are the other teams in the SPL.

"I don't know what kind of figure he was at Rangers "Obviously he scored a lot of goals, he is a player you don't want to lose, of course.

“But they probably have other players who can step up and as I said, they are always going to be a good team."