Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has told his players they cannot afford to ease off this season as they seek to continue dominating Scottish football long term.

The Premiership leaders went 25 points clear of Rangers with a 1-0 victory over Aberdeen, who lie a further two points behind.

Celtic never looked like relinquishing the lead given to them by Dedryck Boyata’s 57th-minute header as they built on their record-breaking weekend, when they beat a 50-year-old mark for an unbeaten start to the domestic campaign.

Rodgers’ side are within touching distance of a sixth consecutive title but they also have other records in their sights after making it 67 points from a possible 69 in the league. And he wants them to maintain their hunger and motivation right the way through the season.

“I said to the players before the game, on February 3 last year they played Aberdeen but they lost and Aberdeen went three points behind Celtic,” he said. “So if you win this game, in less than a year, you go 27 points in front.

“That difference, and how you create that, means you cannot go soft.

“You need to push and you need to keep fighting. We have a record, great, but we’re not going soft, we have to fight, we have to be relentless, and you have to win. And they did that.

“What we are trying to create here is an attitude for the next four or five years and beyond, not just for this season.

“And that means we have an obligation to play well, and we want to win games. You can’t ask any more of what they are doing at the moment. Their energy in the game to press and defend was fantastic.”

Rangers manager Mark Warburton claimed his side had no major problems playing away from home against their rivals following their 4-1 defeat by Hearts.

Wednesday’s loss was their second at Tynecastle this season and they were also beaten 5-1 at Celtic Park and 2-1 at Aberdeen.

Rangers also lost all four matches away from home against the two teams immediately below them in the Championship last season, Hibernian and Falkirk.

But Warburton said: “I don’t think there is a problem with big games. I don’t see it as a problem.

“We went to Aberdeen and I felt dominated and (we) should have won the game.

“We have gone to all these various other venues, Inverness, Partick, Dundee, Motherwell, we have won games convincingly.

“The Parkhead game was well documented. Hearts, we had two bad displays, it’s as simple as that.”