Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes believes Rangers boss Gio van Bronckhorst may look to play possum against rivals Celtic.
Excitement among those invested is reaching fever pitch, as the biggest fixture in Scottish football returns on Wednesday night with only two points separating the Glasgow rivals.
McInnes, a veteran of the legendary contest during his days in Light Blue, believes Rangers' best approach may be to let Celtic start strong before coming on late.
The 50-year-old concedes the Premiership champions may have no choice to take some licks against Ange Postecoglou's high-octane side.
But he reckons Celtic have shown, on occasions, they run out of steam due to the speed they play at from the first whistle.
That wasn't on display during the 1-0 win over Dundee United with 10 men as Saturday's games saw Celtic win late on while Rangers dropped points at the last gasp against Ross County.
However McInnes believes his former team will have success as Wednesday's derby progresses.
Speaking in his Mail on Sunday column, he said: "We've seen this from Celtic before. They can get the game won in the first half but play with an intensity that is difficult to sustain.
"Postecoglou would have enjoyed watching his team in the first half (against Hearts) but it's energy-sapping and it places a huge physical demand on the players. Without Kyogo, Giorgos Giakoumakis has stepped in and what a shift he put in on Wednesday. He ran, he scored, he chased lost causes and more than played his part.
"They ended up having to defend a lot more than Ange would have liked but just about managed to get away with the result.
" Giovanni van Bronckhorst might be tempted to let Celtic wear themselves out on Wednesday and they wouldn't be the first Rangers team to set up to counter at Parkhead."
To launch a counter strike then Rangers will need legs at the top end of the pitch and he believes Fashion Sakala is a live option to start at Parkhead.
The Zambia international was second half sub against Ross County after Amad Diallo went off due to an injury complaint.
McInnes added: "Under Giovanni, Rangers have been more pragmatic and structured and I don't think they will change that for Celtic. They don't have Morelos available so that gives Giovanni a decision to make in attack.
"Aberdeen were able to squeeze the game because they knew Morelos and Hagi weren't going to run away from them but Fashion Sakala is a different proposition. Celtic push their full-backs on and inside and that leaves space.
"Sakala is the one striker at Rangers who can really exploit that and you'd back him to win a foot race with any Celtic defender.
"If he shows the intelligence to choose and time his runs he can eliminate the Celtic defence and I think that will be attractive to Giovanni."
