Rangers are looking to bounce back from dropping points at Tynecastle when they take on Porto in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
The manager is likely to tinker with the XI, with the likes of Ryan Jack and Ryan Kent near-certain to start if deemed fully fit.
Captain, James Tavernier, was at fault for the Hearts goal at the weekend and he made two high-profile mistakes last time out in Europe, but it would be a surprise if he wasn’t retained at right-back.
The centre of defence is where tinkering has taken place in recent times, and there’s every chance the manager will go down that route once again.
In the last three matches, Connor Goldson has had three different centre-back partners. Filip Helander played against Young Boys, George Edmundson against Hamilton and fan favourite, Nikola Katic against Hearts.
The big Croatian didn’t have a poor game, although Jambos target man Uche Ikpeazu caused him the odd problem.
Still, it would seem that Helander is most likely to partner Goldson in Portugal.
The 6ft 4″ Sweden international played in the first two group matches against Feyenoord and Young Boys. In the former, he was excellent, successfully snuffing out the Dutch side’s attacks with regularity. In the latter, he wasn’t quite so convincing.
Yet, it seems he’s Gerrard’s go-to man in Europe. A player with considerable youth and senior international experience, as well as a CV that boasts four years in Serie A, he’s more accustomed to the style of football than Katic is.
As much as the supporters love the 22-year-old, he’s still quite raw and perhaps better suited to domestic football for now.
The Gers splashed out a cool £3.5m on Helander [Scottish Sun] for a reason. It looks like that was to provide an experienced head in big European ties.
Thursday night’s game certainly falls into that category, so expect to see him in the starting XI.
