Rangers meet with a familiar foe this afternoon as Scottish Cup fifth round action against Ayr United comes to Ibrox.
Scott Brown is now in charge of the Honest Men having taken over in January. And of course, he is in for an extremely hostile welcome back to Govan.
We’re sure his ‘love for Rangers‘ will be toned back a bit come full-time because he’ll remember how gutting it feels to lose against his old rivals.
Philippe Clement’s side are in fantastic form and should be able to take care of whatever Brown and Ayr throw at them today.
Rangers have Ben Davies and Ryan Jack back in the squad but Tom Lawrence will be rested as Clement manages his game time. Leon Balogun is still likely to be out after suffering a facial fracture against Livingston last weekend.
Clement is expected to ring the changes in the Scottish Cup and we believe seven alterations to the starting line-up will be made.
Mohamaed Diomande and Oscar Cortes start
A home game against second tier opposition presents the perfect opportunity for Philippe Clement to start his final two January transfer additions.
Mohamed Diomande was recruited from FC Nordsjælland for £4.3m while winger Oscar Cortes arrived on loan from RC Lens until the end of the season.
Both have already featured as substitutes in the last couple of games but now is the time to prove their quality from the beginning.
Elsewhere, goalkeeper Robby McCrorie could be handed a second consecutive Scottish Cup start to give super Jack Butland a breather.
Cyriel Dessers, John Lundstram, Ridvan Yilmaz and Ross McCausland can be rested today as well so Fabio Silva, Nicolas Raskin, Borna Barisic and Scott Wright respectively are expected to be named in the starting XI.
Here is our Rangers predicted XI for the teatime clash.
Rangers predicted XI vs Ayr United
GK – Robby McCrorie
RB – James Tavernier
CB – Connor Goldson
CB – John Souttar
LB – Borna Barisic
CM – Nicolas Raskin
CM – Mohamed Diomande
CAM – Todd Cantwell
LF – Oscar Cortes
ST – Fabio Silva
RF – Scott Wright
