Tonight’s clash against Aberdeen is an important one for Rangers’ season. It is paramount that having achieved the milestone of topping the table on Sunday, that that position isn’t immediately relinquished. A near full strength Gers will pose Aberdeen much more questions than last time out, and should emerge with all three points.
From the line-up that faced Aberdeen in October’s League Cup semi final, there will only be a few personnel changes. For one, it’s likely that Andy Halliday will continue to keep out Jon Flanagan. Elsewhere, Gareth McAuley should start ahead of Joe Worrall, while Eros Grezda or Glenn Middleton will deputise for the injured Ryan Kent.
All this is incidental compared to one other alteration. Alfredo Morelos comes in for Umar Sadiq, and that is a game changer.
Gers struggled for potency in League Cup encounter
Rangers’ actually played well for large periods of the semi final. Yet, because they had an inexperienced and badly undercooked striker in Sadiq, they were toothless.
There was no end product. No threat.
Bring Morelos into the equation and it’s a different kettle of fish. Aberdeen won’t be able to just sit off and cruise through the 90 minutes. Morelos will hassle and harry and in his form, any glimpse at goal could be fatal for the visitors.
Aberdeen will bring a conservative approach, but with Morelos back and Lafferty on the bench, the key difference is that the Gers will have the tools to unlock the defensive wall.
Expect Rangers to come out of the blocks firing in this quest for revenge. I can’t see Aberdeen keeping a clean sheet this time around.
