Rangers Vs Kilmarnock: Preview

Well back to the SPL for the champions this weekend as they play host to Kilmarnock.

Just off the back of what turned out to be a great first leg in Eindhoven, The Rangers will want to capitalise on this game in hand and move just 2 points behind Celtic with a game in hand. With only 1 defeat at home in all competitions this year, which was in that forgettable match against Celtic, this should be a pretty straight forward 3 points in my opinion.

With only 10 games left of the season (12 for us with our 2 games in hand) it’s a MUST win match for the boys tomorrow, as we look to keep the pressure mounted on Celtic.

Naismith scoring against Killie will miss tomorrow's match

Team news:

Rangers: Still with worries ahead of the game as 4 of the squad are still out With Naismith, Ness, McCulloch & Broadfoot all missing the game.

The good news though is that Nikica Jelavic is back in the squad after recovering from the hamstring problem that kept him out. Also likely to feature is Sasa Papac, Smith also confirmed that Mcgregor will replace the step in keeper Alexander who took the midweek European match.

Walter Smith’s 18:

McGregor, Foster, Bougherra, Weir, Bartley, Whittaker, Davis, Edu, Fleck, Healy, Diouf, Jelavic, Alexander, Papac, Wylde, Hutton, Lafferty, Weiss.

Kilmarnock: Will be without their influential play maker Alexi Eremenko who is suspended (which will be great news for Rangers) also suspended is Defender Frazer Wright. Another player for Killie that will miss the match is Taouil who is suffering from a hamstring injury.

Mixu Paatelainen’s 18:

Jaakkola, Hay, Fowler, Sissoko, Hamill, Rui Miguel, Bryson, Pascali, Gros, Silva, Bell, Clancy, Agard, Laurent, Kelly, Berntsson, Aubameyang, Kennedy.

In the post match interview Smith looked in a complementing mood towards Killie.

“Kilmarnock had a terrific result last week at Tynecastle.

“They have had some excellent results this season and played some excellent football.

“They are well deserving of their position in the league.

“It will be a difficult game for us, considering we are just coming back from a European game as well.”

Last meeting: Rangers 3-0 Kilmarnock. Scottish Cup 10/1/2011

Rangers Recent Form: Last 6 league matches, W,W,L,W,W,W. Scoring 13, Conceding 3.

I will try to do a minute by minute report of the match tomorrow so come back around 3.00 GMT, if I can’t manage it come back tomorrow for a full Review of the game.

Gary Linton

Category: Team News