Philippe Clement has been handed an expected early chance to cut the gap to Scottish Premiership leaders and rivals Celtic after the champions had a rare slip up at Easter Road on Saturday.
With such chances not coming around too often, it makes it imperative that Rangers take full advantage when Hearts arrive in Glasgow for the second half of their Old Firm double header at what is set to be a wet and windy Ibrox Stadium.
Steven Naismith's Jambos were well beaten by the Hoops at Tynecastle and the men in maroon will be looking to bounce back from their 4-1 defeat. But new Gers boss Clement has lifted the mood following a 4-0 romp against Hibs in his first game followed by a battling goalless draw at Sparta Prague in the Europa League.
Danilo and Scott Wright both came off the bench in the Czech capital and contributed to a much-improved display after they were outplayed in the first half. Clement could reward the duo with starts against Hearts, while there is relief for Clement that he has a recognised left back available in Ridvan Yilmaz who wasn't included in the UEFA list by Michael Beale and, with Borna Barisic injured, forced the Belgian to switch to a 3-5-2 formation.
Predicted XI
Provisional squad
Goalkeepers:
- Jack Butland
- Robby McCrorie
- Kieran Wright
Defenders:
- James Tavernier
- John Souttar
- Ridvan Yilmaz
- Connor Goldson
- Dujon Sterling
- Ben Davies
- Leon Balogun
- Leon King
- Adam Devine
Midfielders:
- Jose Cifuentes
- John Lundstram
- Ryan Jack
- Nicolas Raskin
- Bailey Rice
- Scott Wright
- Todd Cantwell
Forwards
- Abdallah Sima
- Cyriel Dessers
- Sam Lammers
- Zak Lovelace
- Danilo