How will Rangers line up on Sunday as they look to put a stop to Celtic’s treble winning hopes?
Sunday afternoon will see Scottish football’s biggest game of the seasons so far played out between arch rivals Celtic and Rangers, as Graeme Murty’s men look to dismantle the Hoops’ season by ending their treble winning hopes.
Winning two consecutive domestic trebles would give Celtic bragging rights for years, and may never be matched by a Scottish team again, giving the Gers added incentive to blow away their cross-city rivals when the two meet at Hampden.
Unfortunately for Murty, he will be without a number of key players in David Bates, Josh Windass and Lee Wallace.
Club captain Wallace his missed the majority of the season through injury, whilst league third top scorer Windass is still out a calf tear. Bates, who signed for Hamburg yesterday for next season, will not play due to ligament damage.
With these omissions in mind, how will Rangers line up against Celtic?
Number one Wes Foderingham will start between the sticks as usual, with a back four likely to be made up of Declan John on the left, Russell Martin and Ross McCrorie in the heart of defence, and stalwart James Tavernier lining up on the right.
The quartet successfully kept a clean sheet last weekend and will aiming to keep the Celtic attack at bay to allow the club’s forwards to take the game to the Hoops, just as they did in the first half at Ibrox last month.
Sean Goss looked out of character last derby game with the occasion perhaps getting the better of him, and as a result, Greg Docherty and Graham Dorrans will most likely resume their positions in central midfield.
The trio of attackers behind the striker will most likely be Daniel Candeias, Kenny Miller and Jamie Murphy, with Alfredo Morelos heading the attack, out to put silence his critics after his open goal miss against Celtic last time.
Candeias, Miler, Murphy and Morelos scored four goals and recorded three assists between them last weekend against Dundee, and will go into Sunday’s game in red hot form.
At 38, they do not come more experienced that Miller, who knows better than anybody what it takes to overcome Celtic in the derby or derbies.
Here is the 4-2-3-1 lineup in full…
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