Rangers host St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership, and we examine the injuries, talking points, anticipated XI, and where to watch the game.
The Gers are in good form, having just qualified for the final 16 of the Europa League and defeating Aberdeen in the League Cup Final.
Rangers have won eleven games and drawn three since Philippe Clement took over as manager in Glasgow 14 games ago.
St Johnstone, much like Rangers under Clement, have also bounced back under new management with the club steadying the ship under former Scotland boss Craig Levein.
With a record of three wins, two draws, and two defeats from the manager’s seven matches in charge, the Perthshire club are up to 8th and will provide a stern test for Clement’s injury-strewn Bears.
Here’s our big match preview.
Injury status of Rangers and St Johnstone squads
Rangers’ injury issues continue heading into the clash with St Johnstone but the club don’t appear to have any fresh problems.
Midfield pair Jose Cifuentes – who was suspended for the game anyway – and Ryan Jack remain major doubts ahead of the winter break on January 2nd.
Fellow midfielder Nicolas Raskin, playmaker Tom Lawrence, and Brazilian striker Danilo are long-term absentees.
As for St Johnstone, former Ibrox striker Nicky Clark is set to return to their squad for the clash at Ibrox with Callum Booth and Sam McClelland back in first-team training.
Ali Crawford, who has a calf issue, is improving by the day but attacker Drey Wright remains a long-term absentee with a knee problem.
What Philippe Clement and Craig Levein say:
Philippe Clement: “(I expect) a hard battle. I saw the game against Celtic, they made it a hard battle. It could’ve been 2-2 in one moment. Very well organised team, a lot of power, transition play, set-pieces. So yeah, a big test three days after this Cup Final. A big test also about mentality for my team. To see after the satisfaction, what they deserved, and I told them also they had to enjoy Sunday evening, how fast can they switch. Because that is for me the top sport mentality; the real winners, they switch really fast. They can be really happy but the next day they are back in this winning mode to focus again, to have concentration again. Their body is prepared. So in that way it’s a really big test tomorrow.”
Craig Levein: “It’s going to be tough but I think we have shown enough to go there with a reasonable degree of confidence, to try and play a little bit and see if we can create opportunities. We need a number of things to go in our favour to come away with points: we need to defend excellently and take any chances that come our way. It will be difficult but I can only talk in a positive manner about the players. They have worked really hard and tried their best to support each other during games and I am beginning to see some encouraging signs. Results are the most important thing for confidence and playing well is helpful. We come off the last game against Hibs where we won the game but we also played well. I’m a little bit unsure of how we will perform but what I do know is, we will work our backsides off for sure and hopefully we can get something out of the game.”
Scottish Premiership talking points
Rangers can cut gap at top of Scottish Premiership table to two points
Rangers know they can take one step closer to the top of the Scottish Premiership with victory but manager Philippe Clement is not interested in any of that.
The Rangers boss insists the game is “about three points” and there will be no-one getting carried away no matter what happens on Wednesday, at least outside the stands.
A victory will take Rangers within two points of Celtic with the Gers currently boasting two games in hand on their Old Firm rivals.
Rangers have taken great strides under Philippe Clement and cutting the gap from seven to two ahead of a busy festive run-in will make for a very happy Christmas indeed.
St Johnstone manager tips Old Firm for English Premier League
Speaking ahead of the game, St Johnstone manager Craig Levein has claimed that the Old Firm moving to England might help boost the quality of the football.
This comes with Ross County boss Derek Adams slaughtering the quality of the game north of the border.
Also slaughtering the SPFL for their meagre TV deal – Amen to that – both Levein and Clement will be hoping there is enough quality on show at Ibrox this evening.
For what it’s worth, Philippe Clement compared the Scottish league to Belgium in lieu of the comments, and suggested a more serious B team structure might help the development of the country’s players.
Philippe Clement urges mentality switch after League Cup win
Philippe Clement has also challenged his Rangers team to switch their focus back to the Scottish Premiership marathon after glorious scenes at Hampden over the weekend.
Rangers have been unable to sustain the longevity of a title race consistently enough since the club’s return to the top tier and Philippe Clement will accept nothing less under his watch.
Having ended a 13-year hoodoo at Hampden, the pressure is on this Rangers squad to prove it wasn’t just a one off and the glory days are back in Govan.
Rangers predicted XI v St Johnstone – 4-2-3-1
GK – Jack Butland
DR – James Tavernier
DC – Connor Goldson
DC – John Souttar
DL – Ridvan Yilmaz
CDM – John Lundstram
CDM – Dujon Sterling
CAM – Sam Lammers
RF – Rabbi Matondo
ST – Cyriel Dessers
LF – Abdallah Sima
Where to watch Rangers v St Johnstone at Ibrox
The match is available to stream on RangersTV Pay Per View in the United Kingdom with Sky Sports opting not to include the game as part of its broadcasting schedule.
International Rangers TV subscribers outside of the UK and Ireland can stream the match as normal.
The game is set to kick off at 1945GMT, or 7:45PM, at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow’s southside.
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