Scott Arfield believes Rangers are heading into a make-or-break week that could be the catalyst for greatness under the leadership of Philippe Clement.
The Ibrox outfit firstly travel to Seville to face Real Betis in a crucial Europa League group decider, before then heading to Hampden Park on Sunday for a Viaplay League Cup final showdown against Aberdeen.
With a Europa League knockout place on the line and a first piece of silverware dangling in front of Clement at the weekend, weeks will not come much bigger for the current Ibrox squad.
It is a week that Arfield, who won both the Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup with Rangers, would love to be involved in himself, and he has urged his former team to get the job done on all fronts to boost morale ahead of a title tussle with Celtic.
He explained: “The word I’ve used is momentum. If the team can win on Thursday and then Sunday, it can really kick them on to greatness and to achieve what they want to achieve at the end of the year.
“Thursday night is absolutely huge. It was an opportunity missed against Limassol where they could have rested one or two players against Seville. But now they need to go there and play their strongest team.
“I don’t think they can rest guys for Sunday. They need to play their strongest XI so they can beat Betis and progress.
“Sunday is ginormous for confidence. If you have a trophy won in December, in half a season you already have something to look back on and to kick you on.
“It will also give the manager more respect. When he asks the questions of the team when they are deep into the season he has already won a trophy then that will be huge.”
Rangers do have the safety net of the Europa Conference League knockout stage already secured, but for Arfield, he feels Gers need to cement their spot in the Europa League, a competition that has created some memorable moments for the club in recent seasons.
He continued: “Well there’s two ways of looking at it. People look down at the Conference League but look what it did for West Ham last year. They celebrated that like it was the biggest trophy going.
“So I don’t think it’s a completion you can take lightly or look down on. The fact of the matter, though, is that the Europa League is a higher, more prestigious tournament so you want to go as deep in that as you can.
“So I don’t think you can sacrifice Thursday. In my opinion, I don’t think you can prioritise any game, even though I do think Sunday is more important simply because it’s the first chance to win silverware.
“At this time of the season, lifting that could really kick you on.”
Arfield was surprised to see things unravel at Rangers under the leadership of Michael Beale, but he has been delighted to see the way the club have bounced back to winning ways under Philippe Clement.
The Belgian is yet to lose a game in all competitions since moving to Glasgow and with Celtic slipping up against Kilmarnock at the weekend, his team are now well and truly back in the title race.
Asked if he was surprised by Beale’s demise, Arfield said: “Hugely. I don’t think anybody would have wanted to see that happen.
“I knew how much Rangers meant to Mick and his family. That’s why he took the opportunity to come back up the road.
“It was bitterly disappointing what happened but that is football. That’s what happens when you don’t get results, especially at a club the size of Rangers. You don’t last too long when if things don’t go to plan.
“The club obviously took the decision to change the manager and at the current time it does seem like it’s paying dividends.
“Clement has been amazing. He’s provided that management bounce you’d expect to get when a new manager comes in.
“But I think it’s evident the team is playing in a different system, in a style that’s more fluid. And it’s been producing results, albeit not the Aberdeen and Limassol results.
“But I think the team has really kicked on. The demands he’s placing on the players have been huge.
“Even in the press conferences with you boys he’s been quite stern in his answers. He knows what he wants to put across.
“And having spoken to a few of the boys, I’m told that’s the way he is in the dressing room. He’s the same behind the scenes as he is in front of the camera.”
After this week, Rangers then head into a hectic festive schedule, which includes a trip to Parkhead on December 30.
Arfield was part of the last Ibrox squad to register a victory across the city on enemy terrain, and he feels that this season’s festive edition of the Old Firm derby will play a crucial role in deciding where the title ends up come the end of the campaign.
Reflecting on Rangers’ victory over Celtic during the 2020/21 season that propelled the club on to win the title, Arfield said: “It was a huge win for us. It was the season we went on to win the league. Any Old Firm win is absolutely massive.
“You can be in any situation and it can still be very important. But there’s no doubt that if Rangers get their house in order and they’ve got a chance to go top of the table in December then it’s going to be a huge incentive for them to do so.
“The league obviously won’t be won then and if Celtic win it will be a nice cushion for them. But I don’t think the league will be done.
“As we’ve seen from the first six months of the season you can’t think the league is done at any time.
“It’s huge and they need to keep in touch with Celtic up until then. It sums up Scottish football - the league was supposedly done a month ago with Celtic seven points clear.
“But it shows you that football isn’t played on paper. It’s decided on the grass and any team can beat any team.
“That was proved on Sunday at Rugby Park. I watched the second half of that game and I thought Kilmarnock really deserved their victory over Celtic. They’d have been short changed even by a draw as they were terrific.
“They managed to get the win and that now gives Rangers a huge boost going into this week and the game in hand they have.”
Arfield sampled defeat against Celtic in the League Cup final back in 2019 and to this day the loss still hurts after Steven Gerrard’s side dominated large spells without taking their chances.
On the importance of Clement’s side finding the back of the next this weekend, Arfield added: “In terms of Old Firm matches it was probably the most one-sided game we ever played. We were at it that game and it showed Celtic in a different light. They took their opportunity - albeit it was offside.
“But they took it and they won the game. We were good that game but ultimately we had nothing to show for it.
“Of course Aberdeen have got that about them. We saw that in the 3-1 game at Ibrox in terms of how effective they can be in terms of their strike force and getting the ball up to the big man with runners.
“They are a team to be reckoned with and it won’t be an easy game. Chances when they come along will be huge and Rangers have to take them.”
Scott Arfield was promoting Viaplay’s live and exclusive coverage of Rangers v Aberdeen in the Viaplay Cup Final. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.
