Rangers’ striker will face a late fitness test before playing Dundee United.
Rangers ace faces fitness test ahead of Scottish Premiership match against Dundee United, perhaps causing concern for manager Philippe Clement.
Rangers face a rough start.
Rangers now behind Celtic and Aberdeen by eight points after only four games in the Scottish Premiership, but have a game in hand on Sunday. The Glasgow giants drew their first game in unimpressive fashion, and their points deficit to their Old Firm rivals widened as the disparity in class between the two became glaringly obvious in the final game before the international break.
| Scottish Premiership table as it stands before gameweek 5 | |||||||
| Position | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goal Difference | Points |
| 1 | Celtic | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 15 |
| 2 | Aberdeen | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 15 |
| 3 | Dundee United | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 4 | Rangers | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
It summed up a disastrous start to the season for Clement’s team, which was also knocked out of the Champions League in dubious circumstances after Jefte received a disputed second yellow card against Dynamo Kyiv, who went on to score twice to defeat their Scottish opponents.
It means that Rangers supporters and players have had a difficult international break, but they now have the opportunity to make apologies against Dundee United, whom they are predicted to win.
That may not be as simple as first assumed, with Jim Goodwin’s team presently a point ahead of Rangers and yet to lose this season, having won two and drawn two of their first four games. To make matters worse, Clement has been left sweating over several of his players for the match.
Rangers forward to be evaluated.
Clement announced before of the game that he was still waiting on a few members of his team and had ruled out three players outright.
The Rangers manager has confirmed that Rabi Matondo, Ridvan Yilmaz, and Danilo will all miss the game.
Meanwhile, Ross McCausland had an injury during the international break but might still play: “Ross (McCausland) picked up a knock on international duty, but it shouldn’t be too bad.”
However, a decision has still to be made regarding new addition Nedim Bajrami, who became Rangers’ 11th summer signing on transfer deadline day when he joined from Sassuolo.
Clement said that the Albanian forward had only practiced with his new squad for the first time on Friday, and that his participation in Sunday’s game will be decided on Saturday.
The attacker, who scored the quickest goal in EURO finals history this summer, is anticipated to give the Rangers frontline a boost after it struggled in the early part of the season, although it may take him a week or two to adjust to the expectations of his new team.
Read more on sportupdates.co.uk
Leave a Reply