Ahead of tomorrow Clash, BARRY FERGUSON plan Unvailed as he add TENNAGER to his Squad who will destroy Celtic
Rangers v Celtic line-up predicted:
Rangers will look to record a third successive win over Celtic when the final Old Firm clash of the season takes place at Ibrox on Sunday.
You have to go back to the 1996/97 season to find the last time Rangers won three Old Firm league encounters in a row.
What is Rangers’ injury and team news?
Barry Ferguson confirmed Leon Balogun is back available after undergoing a minor operation on a fractured cheekbone.
The interim boss revealed the defender has trained with a mask, with a view to potentially playing in Sunday’s game.
At his pre-match press conference, Ferguson said: “We’ve got a couple of players back. Leon trained today with a mask on, and he looked fine.
“Again, we’ll need to see how he reacts. Obviously, he’s got a minor operation on his fracture of the cheekbone, so it was good to see him back out today.”
Our writers select their starting XIs for the match.
Chris Jack
Barry Ferguson has made it perfectly clear what this fixture means to him – and what it should mean to his players. Time will if the squad take on board the message from their manager or not. Ferguson insisted on Friday that this is no dead rubber 90 minutes. As a result, expect Ferguson to go with close to his strongest line-up.
It seems sure that he will stick with the back three and the return of Leon Balogun after surgery is a huge boost in that regard. Clinton Nsiala should get the nod over Robin Propper and join Balogun and John Souttar. James Tavernier and Jefte will take the full-back berths.
Nicolas Raskin and Mohamed Diomande are sure to start. Bailey Rice would benefit from the Old Firm experience and gets the pick before Connor Barron.
Ahead of them, Vaclav Cerny must play if fit to do so. The No.9 berth may well go to Cyriel Dessers. It would be more intriguing to see Hamza Igamane start in his favoured position, though. He was the hero at Parkhead and could be at Ibrox.
Derek Clark
The return of Leon Balogun is a welcome boost to Rangers and you’d imagine the Nigerian will start the game.
The big question is just what formation Barry Ferguson adopts with a back three or five, likely. The Rangers boss is limited with regards to available personnel, but it would be good to see a more attack-minded starting line-up.
A back four would allow Rangers to play a midfield three of Nico Raskin, Mohamed Diomande and Ianis Hagi.
In the forward areas, Hamza Igamane should get the chance to lead the line, although it’s highly probable Ferguson sticks by Cyriel Dessers as he has done for much of his time in charge. Danilo will also be itching to feature but he doesn’t seem fancied by Ferguson for whatever reason. On the right, Vaclav Cerny is one of the first names on the teamsheet, but who plays on the left is debatable.
Given the fact that this is yet another Old Firm dead rubber, it would be good to see Oscar Cortes thrown in to see if he is able to show just why Rangers have set aside a substantial transfer fee to bring him in permanently from Lens. The Colombian has barely had a look in, but Sunday may just give supporters a glimpse into what they can expect from him next season.
