Rangers make the short journey to Paisley this week to face on Stephen Robinson’s St Mirren side at the SMiSA Stadium in the Scottish Premiership on Thursday.
Philippe Clement’s side were able to leapfrog Aberdeen into second at the weekend after Vaclav Cerny’s 11th goal of the campaign handed them a narrow 1-0 win over Dundee at Ibrox, while the Dons fell to a surprise 3-1 defeat against Hibs at Pittodrie.
With the Gers now back up into second, their pre-New Year task will be to eat into Celtic’s commanding lead at the top of the league as best as they can during a hectic schedule that will see them play four games in just 15 days.
With the all-important Old Firm clash at Ibrox on January 2, the Ibrox giants will hope they can add a little extra pressure to their Old Firm rivals by picking up three points at the SMiSA Stadium. The Belgian head coach will have to do it without a number of first team players though, with a host of players expected to miss out in Paisley.
As for their hosts, St Mirren, they picked a huge 2-1 win at Ross County over the weekend, despite being down to 10 men from early on in the second-half following Scott Tanser’s red card, meaning they’ll heading into Thursday’s game full of confidence. Like Rangers though, the Buddies have a host of injuries themselves, with potentially three keys players ruled out of the Boxing Day clash.
Ahead of the clash at the SMiSA Stadium, The Scotsman bring you all the early team news ahead of clash:
5. Mark O'Hara - St Mirren - OUT
The St Mirren captain misses out on Boxing Day as he recovers from the hamstring injury he picked up recently. The Englishman is not expected back until next month at the earliest. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group
6. Charles Dunne - St Mirren - OUT
The Buddies defender was ruled out of the weekend win over Ross County, and is another expected to miss out against Rangers due to a hamstring problem. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group
7. Scott Tanser - St Mirren - SUSPENDED
Tanser has already served one suspension for picking up a red card this season, and will sit out the game on Thursday after his second sending off of the season against Ross County at the weekend. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group
8. Ellery Balcombe - St Mirren - AVAILABLE
Was ruled fit enough to start at the weekend and, with reports of an adverse reaction following the win over County, is expected to play against Rangers for the hosts. | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images