On Thursday afternoon, Steven Gerrard previewed the Old Firm in a press conference, as followed by RangersTV.
The Gers have been in excellent form recently, winning their last five matches. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any wholesale changes to the starting XI to face Celtic.
However, the manager does have one major selection headache in particular.
29-goal forward Alfredo Morelos is available again after serving a four-match suspension. He returned to the squad and was afforded 15 minutes off the bench against Hibs at the weekend.
Yet, it was Jermain Defoe’s goal which earned Rangers all three points. He looks extremely sharp right now, with three goals in his last five outings.
The shape Rangers use dictates that only one will start on Sunday.
“I think you’ll see 90 minutes or 60 minutes before the game what my team selection is,” said Gerrard, as captured by RangersTV when asked if he would be prepared to drop Defoe.
“The truth is that people are pushing to play. The players have been consistent of late, which does make it more difficult to take players out, if they’re performing well and they’re consistent.
“What we do need to have is people pushing and the people that are in the eleven…need to do everything they can to keep hold of the shirt for two more games.”
Verdict
Understandably, Gerrard wouldn’t confirm who would lead the line for the Gers on Sunday.
However, it would seem unlikely that he would go into detail about the difficulties of dropping players right now, if, in fact, that’s what he intended to do to Jermain Defoe.
When Morelos picked up his suspension, the England veteran took his chance and he proved his worth again at the weekend.
If Gerrard was thinking about changing it, you would think he would have given Morelos more game time against Hibs last Sunday.
As it is, the combustible striker has played just 15 minutes of football since the previous Old Firm over a month ago.
It doesn’t look like he’ll be getting 90 minutes this time around, either. Instead, Gerrard’s comments hint Defoe is likely to head up the attack, with El Bufalo left on the bench, once more.
