Rangers' Steven Davis and Celtic's Georgios Samaras compete for possession
By Chick Young BBC Scotland football reporter
This should be interesting.
Celtic and Rangers are thundering towards one another like locomotives on the wrong track. Except - with matching 100% league records - they've both clearly been on the right lines.
Right now I suspect privately both would settle for the draw, at least preserving the right not to have their unbeaten tags snipped, to eek out the season when only goal difference - and not too much of that - can peel them apart.
Oh, the irony of it all.
Those of us who keep the Monopolies Commission's number on speed-dial were ever hopeful in the infancy of the season that this time someone - most likely Dundee United - could crowbar them apart. We might as well have believed in the tooth fairy.
The gap is now river deep, mountain high and ocean wide. The rest of them couldn't lasso the Old Firm with the help of a rhinestone cowboy, the man from Laramie and the entire cast of Bonanza.
I really do think that in Emilio Izaguirre they have unearthed a right good player
Chick Young is a fan of Celtic's Honduran left-back
Celtic manager Neil Lennon might not be very good at Scottish Cup semi-finals against teams from a lower division, nor progress in Europe, but he sure seems to have cracked the knack of winning Scottish Premier League fixtures.
I told you he was getting the job and, oh, how some doubted me. And I told you that, given time, he would be good at it too. So that serving of humble pie sure ain't for me.
But this is his biggest test so far.
Already immensely popular with his club's support, they will be making cuddly "Lennys" to take home and hug if he can engineer a win over Rangers boss Walter Smith in the apprentice against sorcerer dugout engagement.
I thought it was brilliant that Lennon thought there was absolutely no reason why he couldn't toddle into Ibrox last weekend to watch the Rangers against Motherwell game, as a coach of any other team could do ahead of an upcoming fixture.
Few of his predecessors embraced the opportunity. Former Celtic boss Jo Venglos did and ended up with, I think, a cup of Bovril thrown over him.
The current Celtic manager watched the action from the directors' box and left with the minimum - if any - of grief. Excellent work all round.
So now we trust that Smith will be able to do the same in the east end ahead of the New Year fixture.
If only sections of the support had the mutual respect that Smith and Lennon have for one another, each comprehending that they will understand one another's circumstances much more than even their own support.
Smith admitted this week that he takes no joy from these games, so he can console himself that he has at best - or should that be at worst - just half a dozen more, assuming the clubs engage one another at some stage of the Co-operative Insurance and Scottish Cups.
The occasion is ridiculously difficult to call at the best of times, far less under the unprecedented circumstances of the 100% records so far into the season.
Lennon and Smith will be in a more serious mood on Sunday
Lennon's high-octane pitch-side energy has obviously been injected into his cosmopolitan side, who are still developing an understanding of one another. But you can see it is working.
Celtic forward Shaun Maloney, possibly the one Scot who will face Rangers, is back to his old self and I really do think that in Emilio Izaguirre they have unearthed a right good player.
And I wouldn't faint with shock if Gary Hooper were to grab a goal.
Rangers head for the east end either wearied by another midweek of toil and sweat, or fired by the knowledge that they matched the team who until Saturday led La Liga, the world's best championship, over an enthralling 90 minutes.
I suspect the latter. The environment at Celtic Park on an Old Firm Sabbath tends not to induce a siesta.
Rangers will go and defend with Lee McCulloch and Kirk Broadfoot replacing Richard Foster and, I suspect, Vladimir Weiss and as much as I can't see them losing, I don't really see them winning.
One of my predecessors once told me that only mice, not men, predict draws…so pass the cheese.
I just don't see anything else, but I'll even give you a scoreline, 1-1.
And the locomotives will apply the brakes. Just in time.
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