Back to league action, this time though, not at the dreaded 12pm kick-off time and a 3pm start that gives the Rangers players a welcome longer lie in bed.
Ross County are the visitors, the first meeting between the sides earlier in the season was a 4-2 win that wasn’t always as comfortable as it should have been and Steven Gerrard will be hoping for a more routine performance.
The elephant in the room is our recent record of conceding the first goal, I’m running out of fingers now so it must be getting bad, Filip Helander’s absence isn’t the sole reason for this, but it’s certainly not a coincidence that we haven’t been as consistent at the back without him.
After the draw with Brondby, Gerrard was scathing in his assessment of his forwards, changing all three, at the same time, before the hour mark which makes picking this weeks even harder but, this is what I think he will go with:
If Ryan Kent is fit enough, he starts, simple as that. Who joins him is up for debate though.
Personally, I think Alfredo Morelos will maybe be the one that misses out at the expense of Kemar Roofe, it would be harsh to drop Fashion Sakala after just two starts – if he doesn’t impress, Iani Hagi will be waiting in the wings.
I’d expect Joe Aribo to drop back into midfield and maybe see John Lundstram return to the central role with Glen Kamara close by, it’s a midfield that has worked well before and should be strong enough to control the game against the Staggies.
It shouldn’t be too much to ask for a win and a clean sheet, it shouldn’t, but here we are – again though, the defence restricted Brondby to set pieces and Allan McGregor only had one save to make so we must be doing something right.
At the beginning of this block of fixtures if we’d been asked if we would accept a four point lead at the top of the league and have Europe League progress in our own hands we’d have taken it, let’s get the job done, re-set and prepare for a huge run of fixtures on the other side.