Rangers take on Coventry City this afternoon in the Gers’ final pre-season friendly with Gers boss Steven Gerrard making one change to the side that beat Motherwell 4-0 in midweek as Allan McGregor replaces Jon McLaughlin – but it’s the return of Filip Helander to the squad that has fans talking.
The Light Blues travel to Pittodrie in a week’s time and Gerrard has gone with what will likely be very close to his starting XI in the Granite City, as confirmed by the club’s Twitter account.
Helander has barely been seen and takes his place on the bench, although there is no first appearance for Leon Balogun after signing yesterday.
Coventry come into the game after being promoted to the Championship and manager Mark Robins has admitted the game probably comes a bit too soon for his players after returning to training ten days ago.
The Gers have had a good pre-season so far with the Motherwell win coming closely after the Veolia Trophy triumph in France saw Gerrard’s side impress against Nice and Lyon.
Today’s friendly will be the last chance for Gerrard to fine-tune his team’s shape and style ahead of the trip to Pittodrie next weekend and should prove to be a good test, despite Coventry only just being back from a brief break.
With Gerrard also likely to look to trim his squad a little soon, it could also be a good opportunity for some of his fringe players to stake a claim for a regular place in the side at Ibrox rather than going out on loan or sold.
Here are some of the comments from Rangers fans after Gerrard’s starting XI was confirmed: