St Johnstone visit Ibrox this evening and for those that don’t pay much attention to the Scottish Premiership table other than the top half, you may be surprised to find that the side from Perth currently sit at the bottom of the table.
Callum Davidson lost his two best players when Ali McCann and Jason Kerr left late in the transfer window and he’s been hung out to dry to a certain extent, unable to replace them with similar quality, the vacant job at Easter Road must seem like an attractive proposition at the moment.
For Rangers though it’s all about maintaining the progress made under Giovanni van Bronckhorst who has been consistent in his team selections so far and this is who I think he will pick to take on the Taysiders:
There is no reason to change the defence, the full-backs aren’t covering as many miles and we are still restricted at centre-half, Allan McGregor’s return to form also vindication for not rotating the keepers, even if it is harsh on Jon McLaughlin who has never put a foot wrong.
The front three caused Hearts a lot of problems on Sunday and should be given the chance to start again, there is always the option of making early changes if GvB wants to give players a rest, I’m a great believer in minimising rotation if the players are fit enough to keep playing.
Midfield is the only area of the park that I think he might tinker, Scott Arfield has been outstanding but he should be protected for the games still to come and in John Lundstram and Juninho Bacuna we have two players who can add an attacking threat from deep, they should both get a chance in the coming games.
We saw pragmatism against Hearts once we were in front but against St Johnstone we should be on the front foot from the start, keep them in their half and win the ball higher up the park, there is a reason they are bottom of the league and we should make every effort to keep them there.
In a congested fixture list, results are all that matters though and, as we saw last season, winning 1-0 gets you just as many points as 4-0 but an early lead and a decent advantage at half-time would make for an altogether more comfortable evening’s viewing.