Major Injury Update: Philippe Clement Reveals Crucial News Ahead of Rangers Clash Against St Johnstone! Fans on Edge..
After Wednesday’s 3-1 triumph over relegation strugglers Ross County, Rangers are now level on points and goal difference with title rivals Celtic at the top of the league.
The Hoops have scored more goals so that has them just ahead but if the Light Blues were way more clinical against the Staggies having had a total of 23 shots on target, things could have been different going into this weekend.
Celtic play Kilmarnock at home today so the pressure will be on Rangers the day after regardless of the scoreline at Parkhead.
Philippe Clement addressed the press on Friday at the Rangers Training Centre to deliver two key injury updates ahead of the Perth trip. So here is the latest Rangers injury news vs St Johnstone.
The flying Welsh winger has profited from the absence of Abdallah Sima of late having started four of the last six Scottish Premiership fixtures for Rangers, as per Transfermarkt.
In that time he’s registered two goals and an assist which are signs of improvement in the 23-year-old’s end product.
Rabbi Matondo started against Ross County but only lasted 45 minutes due to pulling up with a muscle issue. Clement subbed him off and has now clarified his player’s problem.
The Belgian said: “Rabbi, and this is why I changed him at half-time, he has a small muscle injury. So we made the scan to get control and it’s clear there’s a small thing so will not be available for this game.
“I think he will be back short-term but for sure won’t be able to play this weekend.”
After suffering a nasty facial fracture against Livingston a few games ago, key defender Leon Balogun is on his way back to first-team squad contention.
He’ll have to wear a protective mask for the foreseeable future in similar vein to Danilo earlier in the season. Clement rated his chances of playing at McDiarmid Park on Sunday.
The boss said: “Only Leon Balogun comes back, we made some adjustments with his mask. So he can be in the selection and that is something for me to decide towards the game on Sunday.”