Once bitten, twice shy. Philippe Clement’s team selection came back to bite him on Boxing Day and the Rangers boss is unlikely to risk wasting another 45 minutes when he names his starting XI for the trip to Motherwell.
The Belgian rested Nico Raskin with his compatriot at risk of an Old Firm derby suspension and was forced to bring him on at the break against St Mirren with the Light Blues a goal down and chasing the game in Paisley. Danilo was also thrown on and the Brazilian grabbed the goal that gave them a lifeline before St Mirren struck late to inflict more Premiership pain on the Ibrox. They now trail Celtic by 12 points in the table before their meeting in Govan on Thursday and and can’t afford a slip-up in Lanarkshire.
Even a first victory against Celtic for Clement probably won’t be enough to make a real fist of this season’s title race but he needs it to get the monkey off his back, offer hope going forward – and perhaps even keep him in a job. So star performer Raskin and Danilo are surely the first two names on his team sheet for Fir Park with Leon Balogun out injured. Here, Record Sport predicts his Steelmen line up.
Predicted XI
Rangers provisional squad
Goalkeepers
Jack Butland
Liam Kelly
Lewis Budinauckas
Defenders
James Tavernier
Rıdvan Yılmaz
Robin Propper
Dujon Sterling
Jefte
Midfielders
Connor Barron
Mohamed Diomande
Nedim Bajrami
Kieran Dowell
Nicolas Raskin
Ianis Hagi
Vaclav Cerny
Ross McCausland
Oscar Cortes
Forwards
Cyriel Dessers
Danilo
Hamza Igamane