This time last week it was hoped that a comfortable home win would see Steven Gerrard afforded the luxury of being able to rest a few players ahead of a crucial Old Firm league fixture at the weekend.
It’s safe to say things haven’t quite worked out like that.
Not only has the manager not traveled to Armenia but Allan McGregor, Jon McLaughlin, James Tavernier, Calvin Bassey, Scott Wright and Ryan Kent have all failed to make the trip due to Covid-19 procedures and injury.
It does, however, make trying to pick an XI a little bit easier given that Kemar Roofe and John Lundstram are also suspended with Ryan Jack and Fashion Sakala still not fit.
So, this could be the team that lines up to take on Alashkert to decide who plays in the Europa League and who plays in the Conference League:
I’d expect almost the same team to play against Celtic with Kemar Roofe coming in for Cedric Itten, although there is the option of bringing John Lundstram or Scott Arfield back in to midfield and going with Joe Aribo and Ianis Hagi in support of Alfredo Morelos.
We still have options and, thankfully, we still have an experienced defence in front of Robby McCrorie, Nathan Patterson might not have played much in terms of quantity but he has still played in a couple of Old Firms and in Europa League knockout football, he can be more than trusted to do a job
This team should certainly still be strong enough to see off Alashkert and will, at least, give McCrorie the chance to settle in ahead of what will be the biggest day of his life at the weekend – he has long since been believed to be the future of the number one shirt, now is his chance to prove it.