Rangers captain James Tavernier is taking nothing for granted as Tottenham Hotspur come to town in the Europa League.
The Ibrox skipper might be 33, but in recent weeks the marauding right-back has reignited his Rangers career with a series of sublime performances.
It comes amid much scrutiny on James Tavernier ahead of a bumper week at Ibrox, with the Rangers hero battling through plenty of doubts about his Ibrox credentials in 2024.
With increased competition in the shape of Dujon Sterling emerging in Glasgow, it’s the first time in Tav’s 10-year stint that a starting berth at Rangers hasn’t been guaranteed.
And it’s that rivalry with Dujon Sterling that has been the subject of an inquest ahead of the Europa League visit of Spurs, with James Tavernier facing the pre-match media.
Explaining that no-one’s place in the Rangers team is guaranteed, the Ibrox skipper insists he has a ‘really close’ relationship with the former Chelsea talent and that competition is healthy.
James Tavernier on Dujon Sterling rivalry
“Yeah, me and Dujon are really close and we want to push each other,” said Tavernier. “The whole team want to push each other.
“It’s not the same 11, the players are really pushing to get that chance and win us to perform for the shirt.
”We’re all in it together, we all want to win the same things and we’re all going to continue to keep pushing each other throughout the season.
“It’s only healthy to have people pushing each other in a squad to push you on.
”As a footballer, you can never expect to start your game. You’ll get too comfortable. You don’t want that.
”You always want to be pushing yourself. Every single week, I never expect myself to start. I always try and push myself. That’s what I continue to do, even when I’m not being playing.
“It’s just pushing hard and obviously helping the team.
“(We need to) just keep working hard every single day, which I do. That’s what I’ve got to continue to do.”
Rangers captain on Premier League brother
Rangers captain James Tavernier was also asked about his Premier League brother Marcus Tavernier, who turns out for Bournemouth.
Only a week ago was Marcus part of the team who defeated Tottenham 1-0 in the Premier League, a result which has heaped the pressure on Ange Postecoglou.
Admitting that he’s watched Marcus Tavernier in action against Spurs, big brother James was tight-lipped on the suggestion of any advice from the attacker.
The Rangers captain also wishes his younger sibling could’ve scored more goals against Spurs with the Cherries frontline blowing the chance to put some gloss on the victory.
But there was one big lesson that Tavernier took from watching Marcus in action – if Rangers are to get a result v Tottenham Hotspur, they will need to take their chances.
“I’ve obviously watched my brother’s game, so I’ve watched that really closely,” said Tavernier.
“Obviously Bournemouth have been doing really well this season, so has my brother.
“We’ve obviously looked at a lot of clips of how Tottenham have played. It’s just about what we do at the training ground to really tune into what we need to do first.
“I wish [my brother] would have scored a couple of goals in that game. He had a couple of chances.
”What’s stood out from that game, you know, Bournemouth really pressed up high, didn’t give them much time on the ball.
“The only downside points of that game, Bournemouth should have really finished the game off.
“They had a lot of chances, and that’s why I say as of late we’ve been really clinical with what we’ve been doing.
“It’ll be really important tomorrow night, because we don’t know how many chances we get, but it’s about us being clinical.
“I think that’s the main thing, you know, when we get in those positions, be clinical and obviously not conceding.”
