Rangers return to domestic action on Saturday with a visit to Perth and a team that has lost, arguably, it’s two best players just before the transfer window shut.
Callum Davidson didn’t have much time to replace Jason Kerr and Ali McCann and their squad will be weaker for their absence, however, he will still have them organised and well disciplined.
St Johnstone caused us problems last year, the Scottish Cup defeat an obvious sore point, their mixture of pressing high and sitting in a low block made it difficult to get into a rhythm against them, early season wins were far from comfortable despite the scorelines suggesting otherwise.
Remarkably, they have only lost one game in four despite scoring a solitary goal all season, it’s safe to say that they won’t be playing expansive football, they will also have to make do without Glenn Middleton who won’t be eligible to face his parent club as per league rules.
The Old Firm win sets us up nicely going into the next run of games, a clean sheet against opposition that had been scoring freely, however, we have yet to find our best form at the opposite end of the park, Steven Gerrard will be able to call upon all of his first choice forwards though, apart from Ianis Hagi, who is isolating after testing positive for Covid-19.
Juninho Bacuna could make his first appearance in a Light Blue shirt, against a notoriously frugal opposition, his maverick tendencies from a deeper midfield position could be useful in breaking them down, it would also allow Joe Aribo the chance to recover fully from his international exertions.
Beating Celtic means nothing if we don’t follow it up with a run of positive results, something that we were near perfect at last season, a win away against St Johnstone would be a great game to lay down a marker.