Celtic on course for title as Rangers lose

Celtic FC Swedish forward Henrik Larsson (L) with his teammate British midfielder Alan Thompson

Celtic all but wrapped up the Scottish Premier League title.

Not only did Martin O'Neill's men thrash cash-strapped Livingston 5-1 at Parkhead they also saw nearest challengers and arch rivals Rangers surprsingly lose 2-0 away Sunday to sixth-placed Dundee United.

The results left leaders Celtic a massive 16 points clear of defending champions Rangers with both sides having played 26 games.

In Glasgow, Celtic extended their winning run to 25 matches with Stephen Pearson, Chris Sutton, Alan Thompson (two) and Henrik Larsson all scoring.

The Bhoys went ahead in the 12th minute when Stanislav Varga exchanged passes with Sutton before squaring the ball across the face of goal to give Pearson an easy tap-in.

Celtic doubled their lead in the 36th minute when, following Larsson's flick-on from a Thompson free-kick, Sutton poked the ball past Livi keeper Roddy McKenzie.

But four minutes before the break, Derek Lilley pulled one back for the visitors when he made the most of a defensive mix-up to shoot past Celtic keeper Rob Douglas.

However, O'Neill's men killed the game as a contest in the 48th minute when Thompson struck with a fine curling shot.

And they were far from finished. In the 55th minute, after McKenzie gave away a free-kick after handling Manu Dorado's back-pass, Larsson smashed home to make it 4-1.

Thompson completed the rout 10 minutes from time when he chipped in a penalty kick after substitute Craig Andrews had been fouled.

Meanwhile in Dundee, United rocked treble-holders Rangers with theuir first win over the Ibrox side in nearly three years courtesy of first-half goals from Mark Kerr and Andy McLaren.

The United duo netted in the space of three minutes to put the game beyond Alex McLeish's men.

Kerr's 31st minute strike from the edge of the area went in off the crossbar with Rangers' German keeper Stefan Klos beaten.

McLaren, who had helped set up the opener when the Rangers defence were unable to clear his cross fully, then got on the scoresheet himself.

Rangers failed to deal with Barry Robson's corner and former Kilmarnock favourite McLaren bundled the ball in at the far post.

McLeish's men created few chances of note and it was left to the Tannadice faithful to celebrate a memorable victory.

Scottish Premier League table after Sunday's matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):