Rangers vs St Mirren | SPFL Matchday 20 25/26

Following the recent visit of Motherwell, which saw Rangers leapfrog the Steelmen in the SPFL table, we now look forward to the visit from 9th placed St Mirren.

Rangers have been on reasonably good form since Danny Rohl, Rohl’d into town and over our last 5 games in the league, we’ve won three, drawn one and lost one. St Mirren have also picked up some form of late with two wins, two draws and a loss.

This game comes with an added significance, with Hearts dropping points at the weekend and Celtic facing a stern test away to Motherwell. With the title permutations changing on a weekly basis, it’s vital Rangers keep the pressure up with a winning run.

St Mirren managed a stuffy draw against Kilmarnock in their last game, however they can probably be aggrieved not to win after dominating their opponents.

In that game St Mirren managed to amass an xG of 1.96, made up of 19 shots in total and seven of those, on target. They were also very unlucky not to be given a penalty with another poor refereeing decision impacting this game.

St Mirren have tended to focus their attacking play more to their left over the recent games. This means a busy night for one of Tavernier or Aarons, as they try to marshal Declan John and Ayunga. To combat this, I would be looking for either Sterling or Tavernier on the right side of a back three. A three would also provide some further support against Ayungas strike partner, Mandron.

Despite their lowly position of 9th in the SPFL table, St Mirren haven’t shipped that many goals and only five teams boast a better defensive record. Given Rangers of late have been creating plenty but struggling to put them away, this could be a very interesting battle and potentially, ends up being quite a tight game.

Looking at the Rangers squad we have no major worries ahead of this game. John Souttar managed a few minutes at the end of the Motherwell game but this one may come too soon for a full game. You would expect him to get some minutes here with one eye on the Old Firm game next weekend.

The biggest question for the manager will undoubtedly be, who starts up top. Chermiti had what is probably his best all round game vs Motherwell but still flattered to deceive. Miovski didn’t look much better when he came on, passing up a couple of chances. I would discuss Danilo, but I don’t think I need to say much there. Rohl has already said he wants a goal scorer in the January window, which says all you need to know about our current options!

I think the defence pretty much picks itself. Butland redeemed his mistakes vs Hearts with an outstanding performance in that Motherwell game. With Souttar and Sterling still working to full fitness, they will likely cover one CB slot between them, with Fernandez taking the left-hand CB slot and we will likely see Tavernier take the right CB slot. At left back it will be Meghoma (expect him to come off early if we are in control) and the only real question is right back. Does he use Tav in the centre with Aarons at RB or will he vary it again?

In the middle of the park, I suspect he will continue with Barron, Raskin and Diomande. Both Raskin and Diomande flattered to deceive vs Motherwell but it’s vital we start to get some consistency in there. That said, I do wonder if Raskin drops out for this one with a more attacking midfielder like Aasgaard or Cameron pushed in. As they say the best defence is a good offence!

Up front is harder to pinpoint. I suspect we will see Moore in the second striker role but who gets the nod up top? Miovski was in great form prior to his injury but looked rusty when he came on. Chermiti has improved but given where he started, it’s not a high bar! Personally I think Miovski starts here, if for no other reason than to give Rohl options come the weekend.

Prediction: Rangers 2-1 St Mirren