Rangers boss Steven Gerrard assesses Alfredo Morelos confidence ahead of Celtic clash and offers Scott Arfield update

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard had a premonition Alfredo Morelos would end his barren run in front of goal against St Mirren in Paisley.

Alfredo Morelos celebrates after ending his recent goal drought as Rangers beat St Mirren 2-0 in Paisley. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

The Colombian international striker scored for the first time since the start of November as he grabbed the second goal in a 2-0 win which keeps Rangers 16 points clear at the top of the Premiership table.

Gerrard believes it comes as a timely boost to Morelos’ confidence ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Celtic at Ibrox when the 24-year-old will be looking to break his duck in Old Firm matches. He has failed to find the net in any of his previous 13 appearances against Celtic.

“Alfredo will be delighted with the goal,” said Gerrard. “He has been training well and I had a good feeling it was about to come.

“He’s getting into some good places. He was unlucky against St Johnstone last week and unlucky against Hibs on Saturday when he came on.

“So I had a feeling it was only a matter of time. You can’t keep him down forever. That will do his confidence the world of good.”

Gerrard has confirmed that he will be without Scott Arfield for the Old Firm clash after receiving the result of a scan on the ankle the midfielder injured against Hibs last Saturday.

“The scan came back and we are just waiting on a few more opinions on it,” said Gerrard.

“We’ve had one opinion on it and he will obviously be missing in the short term. He will definitely be missing for a few weeks, that’s for sure.

“But in terms of the exact date or time, it’s very difficult to say right now. He will certainly miss the next two or three fixtures.”

Kemar Roofe scored Rangers’ other goal as they made it 13 Premiership wins on the spin with a performance in Paisley which prompted mixed emotions from Gerrard.

"I thought we controlled large parts of the game, we managed the game really well,” he said.

“But there were patches which were a bit scrappy and a bit ugly as well. We came here to do a job, we came here for three points and we’ve done it.”

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