Derek McInnes dismissed the idea that Rangers could put pressure on Celtic and Hearts with a win against Dundee on Saturday evening.

A victory at Dens Park would take Rangers above Celtic to the Scottish Premiership summit, with their Glasgow rivals not in action until Sunday when they take on third-place Hearts in a rematch of last season's title decider.

McInnes' side have won their past seven matches in all competitions, in contrast to Celtic, who have stumbled of late, losing four of their past five, but the Rangers boss says it is too early to look beyond their own fixtures.

"The thing for me with that is you've still just got to win your game," McInnes said, when asked if Rangers could gain a psychological advantage over Celtic and Hearts with a victory.

"Whenever you're asked to play, whether it's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, you've just got to win your game. It's a bit early in the season to [put pressure on title rivals]."

Celtic and Hearts were both in European action on Thursday as Celtic were swept aside 4-1 by Benfica in the Europa League and Hearts drew 1-1 with Nordsjaelland in the Conference League.

Rangers missed out on Europe this season with a hugely disappointing Conference League play-off defeat by Czech Republic side Jablonec in August.

"Of course we would rather be in Europe and there was a wee bit of envy watching last night, but the only benefit from that is if we can be successful domestically," McInnes said.

"It does give us longer to prepare for games but it doesn't guarantee anything.

"The fact we're playing first this time around, I won't even mention putting pressure on an opposition. I'm more focused on the fight being with us to improve and just concentrating on getting another three points.

"Small steps, win your game and don't be too obsessed with what's happening elsewhere."

Rangers returned from the recent international break with a 3-1 win over Kilmarnock last weekend, but McInnes says his side must improve on that showing against Dundee.

"Having the players in this week has allowed us to go into the game in better shape," he said.

"It doesn't guarantee anything, of course, but once the game starts, hopefully we can deliver a big performance.

"We can't have the performance we had in the second half last week. The drop-off was too big, although there were maybe a lot of reasons for that.

"There will be no reason for that this week. It's up to us to deliver a big performance and recognise that we need to get more. We need to keep stepping on the gas and deliver the big performances we're looking for."