Thankfully for Rangers, they have a Champions League playoff clash to consider while picking today’s team.
St Johnstone visit Ibrox on Premiership duty this afternoon and while the need to win never ceases when you play for one half of the Old Firm, Gio van Bronckhorst will certainly have half an eye on Tuesday. PSV visit Ibrox and there’s £40million on the line with the winners progressing to the group stages.
So the Gers boss has to balance claiming all three points against Callum Davidson’s side while also trying to ensure everyone makes it through the game and is available to face Ruud van Nistelrooy’s team in midweek. He certainly has the scope to make changes with a strong bench named for Tuesday’s win over Union Saint Gilloise and the temptation could be there to try and protect some of his stars to ensure he’s at full strength for another big European night.
Alfredo Morelos is pushing for more minutes, but may not start as he returns to journey back to full fitness following last season’s thigh tear. He came on to score against Kilmarnock last week and got a run out against Union as well. However, Antonio Colak ot the nod from the start and scored in both games, so is unlikely to lose his place to the Colombian this afternoon.
Jon McLaughlin appears to be the number one choice between the sticks for now. He came in for criticism after his first leg display against the Belgians but has retained his starting spot. Allan McGregor remains on standby by dropping McLaughlin may not be something van Bronckhorst is keen to do as he looks to establish him as his first pick in goal.
Ridvan Yilmaz was handed a first start against Kilmarnock before Borna Barisic returned to the team to face Union. That switch could be repeated this week to keep the Croatian fresh and afford the Turk more game time.
Predicted Rangers XI
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