Glasgow Rangers kick off the new Scottish Premiership season on Saturday afternoon with an away day at Pittodrie, with rivals Aberdeen awaiting the Light Blues.
The Gers have the objective of stopping cross-town rivals Celtic from winning their tenth consecutive top-flight title in 2020-21 and will look to start the campaign with three points in the Granite City.
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has provided an injury update ahead of the clash in Aberdeen, stating that veterans Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis will sit out of the game against the Dons.
“Jermain Defoe won’t make tomorrow’s game – he is still recovering from a hamstring injury but he is progressing well although the weekend comes too soon,” the Gers boss told the club’s official website.
“Steven Davis is still got a niggling Achilles, but he is progressing really well – he probably will miss this game by a couple of days, but we are expecting him back in full training early in the week and he should be available on Thursday night.
“Besides that, everyone is fit and well assuming they come through this morning’s session.”
It promises to be a busy start to the season for Rangers, who still have a Europa League quarter-final against Bayer Leverkusen to play in Germany.
With the European fixture to take place next week and three quick-fire domestic games in the following nine days, Gerrard will hope that his Gers squad is fighting fit.
Rangers have looked good in pre-season, with impressive victories over Lyon and Nice in France backed up by wins against Morherwell and Coventry City.
Gerrard will be happy that his Gers side did not concede a single goal in those four games and the visitors will need to defend well against Aberdeen to escape with a positive result.
It will be interesting to see the Rangers starting XI against the Dons, while the Glasgow giants can also name five substitutes after the recent rule change.
