MusaPredicted Rangers XI vs Hearts: 3 changes amid Miovski fitness concern with Bournemouth loanee dropped
How we expect Rangers could line-up against Hearts at Tynecastle in their latest Scottish Premiership encounter
Tynecastle is the place to be on Sunday as Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts entertain Danny Rohl’s resurgent Rangers side in what is sure to be a blockbuster encounter that could have implications for the title race.
Since the German boss was appointed, the Light Blues have claimed 20 points from a possible 24 in the league and they will be aiming to continue building on some positive momentum when they arrive in Gorgie.
The Jambos made an excellent start to the season before Derek McInnes’ men suffered a minor blip by winning just once in six outings. However, they bounced back impressively with an impressive 2-1 win over Celtic at Parkhead and backed that up with a comfortable win on the road at Falkirk to move six points clear at the summit.
Rangers, who still have a game in hand to play, are a further three points adrift in third place and Rohl will be eager to maintain his impressive start domestically this weekend.
What has Mohamed Diomande said pre-match?
Midfielder Mohamed Diomande, who is determined to make up for the disappointment of being omitted from the Ivory Coast squad for AFCON, confessed confidence is high in the squad as they aim to head into the festive season by picking up maximum points in the capital.
He said: “We’ve had a good run, and we’ve put ourselves in this situation, and it’s important for our confidence, but we know it’s not going to be an easy game. We will go and do whatever we can to get three points.
There’s still a lot of games to go, what is important for us now is to go on Sunday and try and get a result. We know obviously, we have a tight schedule of tough teams after this game.
“I’m not going to say like what is going to happen or anything, but I’m focused now to go and get three points on Sunday.
“We as a team have always had a good mood in the dressing room, and we’ve got top characters in there. Obviously, we didn’t start as we wanted, but it didn’t change anything really in the dressing room, people always stick together.”
Who will start for Rangers against Hearts?
We are predicting THREE changes from the Rangers side that edged past Hibs on Monday night. Nasser Djiga joins a growing list of players currently unavailable due to his involvement in AFCON with Burkina Faso, meaning Rohl will have to make an unforced change in central defence.
It’s expected that captain James Tavernier will be restored to the XI at right-back, with Dujon Sterling moving across to fill Djiga’s place.
Other changes could come higher up the pitch with Max Aarons enduring another disappointing display and is as serious risk of being dropped, while youngster Findlay Curtis could also return to the bench.
Nicolas Raskin and Djeidi Gassama are the most likely candidates to take their place as part of a slight formation reshuffle, which would see Rohl change from a 4-1-4-1 system to 4-2-3-1, with Youssef Chermiti favoured to lead the line should Bojan Miovski fail a late fitness test. Lyall Cameron has had an injection and will also miss out.
Taking all of that into account, here’s our Rangers starting XI predicted:
Jack Butland – GK
James Tavernier – RB
Dujon Sterling – CB
Emmanuel Fernandez – CB
Jayden Meghoma – LB
Connor Barron – CM
Nicolas Raskin – CM
Mohamed Diomande – CAM
Mikey Moore – RW
Djeidi Gassama – LW
Youssef Chermiti – CF
SUBS: Liam Kelly (GK), Max Aarons, Bojan Miovski, Thelo Aasgaard, Clinton Nsiala, Kieran Dowell, Calum Adamson, Findlay Curtis, Danilo.
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