Giovanni van Bronckhorst has confirmed a major double boost for Rangers ahead of Saturday’s Scottish Cup Fifth Round tie against Annan Athletic [RangersTV].
The Gers are travelling to Galabank to take on League Two opposition on an artificial surface.
Speaking during his press conference on Friday, GvB confirmed that Ryan Jack is unavailable for the game as he will only be returning to training over the weekend following a minor ankle injury.
Leon Balogun is also set to miss out after being forced off 15 minutes into the midweek win over Hibernian with an apparent hamstring injury, although the manager said that the results of a scan were more positive than initially anticipated.
Helander and Ramsey fit in double boost for Rangers
Excitingly for Bears, though, he confirmed that both Filip Helander and Aaron Ramsey will start the tie.
Helander has been out since September with a knee injury and Ramsey has only had two brief substitute outings in a Rangers shirt since joining on loan from Juventus on 31 January.
Both players improve Rangers’ strongest XI considerably, so the fact that they’re both now fit is a double boost for the club’s hopes of securing silverware this season.
“Filip has already been training for weeks, I think he’s had around 20 sessions with the team already now,” said GvB [RangersTV]. “I think we have him on a level where he can start games so he will start tomorrow and I’m really happy for him.”
“Yes, Aaron [Ramsey] will start tomorrow,” added the manager later in the presser. “He’s been doing well. He’s had more team sessions and he had some more minutes against Hibs.”
“He’s getting better and fresher and the rhythm is coming back, so he will be starting as well tomorrow.”
An away game at Annan certainly wouldn’t have been the forefront of either Helander or Ramsey’s thinking when they signed for Rangers.
But, artificial surface aside, this should be a perfect fixture for them to come in for.
Given that he’ll be coming up against fourth tier defenders, Ramsey will also likely fancy himself to open his Rangers goal account against the Black and Golds.
Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on the future of Amad Diallo.
