Rangers have confirmed their starting XI for the Old Firm clash at Celtic Park.
The Gers are set to visit Celtic Park for the first Old Firm derby of the season in the Scottish Premiership.
There will be no away fans in the ground after Celtic controversially reneged on an agreement to see the return of away supporters.
It will also be the case at Ibrox in the second league fixture of the campaign come January.
Now, Philippe Clement has named his Rangers side to face Celtic at Parkhead with kick off set for 12:30pm.
Rangers confirm starting XI v Celtic
Heading into the clash with Celtic, there was plenty made about who would be starting in midfield for Rangers.
Barry Ferguson demanded a trio of Dujon Sterling, Connor Barron and Mohamed Diomande and Philippe Clement has duly delivered.
Robin Pröpper also gets a first taste of the Old Firm in the centre of defence, as does left-back Jefte, with right-winger Vaclav Cerny completing this season’s debutants.
Cyriel Dessers starts up top and already has five goals for the season, whilst left-winger Rabbi Matondo has previous in this fixture.
Goalkeeper Jack Butland and captain James Tavernier are the team’s leaders, with centre-back John Souttar another who has big experienced in the Old Firm derby.
There are places on the bench for Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane and deadline day signing Neraysho Kasanwirjo, with Tom Lawrence and Danilo strong options amongst the substitutes.
Rangers boss urges fans to stick with ‘exciting’ project
Rangers manager Philippe Clement has been highlighting the importance of a good result in the Old Firm clash with Celtic.
The Gers haven’t won at Celtic Park since the January of 2019 and without a single bluenose in the stands are up against it to land a blow on the Parkhead side.
Defeat means that Rangers will fall five points behind Celtic whilst a victory – whisper it quietly – will see the Gers go a point in front of their eternal rivals.
With this being only the fourth game of the Scottish Premiership campaign, there are plenty of twists and turns to come.
Clement has urged Rangers fans to stick with his young team who are growing with every match.
“It’s always very important for everything,” Clement told the press ahead of the game. “For the fans, we know it’s the game of the season.
“For us also, it’s your biggest rival. It’s three important points in the league, but you have 34 games also after.
“But for perception also, because I think there’s been a more negative perception around the club, with the stadium, with elimination from the Champions League, all those circumstances, all these things.
“People forget sometimes also to see what’s going well. We won the last game 6-0 and it could have been more than six.
“People have told me that it was more than four years since that happened. It’s not all bad.
“This is an exciting project, and an exciting squad also now to build on.
“It’s not a finished article and I know we’re going to play against a team with a lot of experience, who have played a long time together, who have played a lot of European games, Champions League games, and league games, all together getting this experience and learning from that.
“They will probably replace one player [O’Riley] with another player [Bernardo] who was there last season.
“Someone who has trained with them so they know everything together.
“We are a young exciting team who want to challenge that now. But I believe we also have the quality to challenge that and to go full out for the three points.
“We are going to go full out for that. But the finished article is not yet here. That’s normal because we are rebuilding a lot, replacing 16 players.
“We can’t do that in five training sessions or whatever.”
