Glasgow Rangers are back in action once again in the Scottish Premiership this evening as they prepare to welcome Dundee to Ibrox in their last home match of the season.
The Light Blues only have one more league game, against Hearts, left to play after tonight and look set to miss out on the title to their local rivals.
They are six points behind Celtic and five goals worse off on goal difference, which means that it would take a staggering set of results over the next five days to turn the situation around.
Philippe Clement's side head into this clash with Dundee in Glasgow off the back of a 2-1 defeat to the Hoops last time out in the league at Parkhead.
A strike from Matt O'Riley and an own goal by John Lundstram, who was later shown a red card, was enough to secure all three points for the home side on the day.
The Belgian head coach now looks set to have to make multiple alterations to his starting XI from that defeat as a host of players have been ruled out of this game at Ibrox tonight.
Latest Rangers injury news
In his pre-match press conference on Monday, Clement confirmed that a staggering 11 players will not be available for selection for the Light Blues.
John Souttar, Bailey Rice, Dujon Sterling, Tom Lawrence, Lundstram, Leon Balogun, Connor Goldson, Oscar Cortes, Rabbi Matondo, Danilo, and Abdallah Sima will all be watching on from the stands or at home.
Four of those players – Souttar, Sterling, Lawrence, and Lundstram – were in the starting XI to face Celtic on Saturday and will now need to be replaced.
This means that the ex-Monaco manager will need to make at least four alterations to his lineup, and Leon King could be given a chance at centre-back next to Ben Davies with Souttar, Balogun, and Goldson out.
Sterling's absence will provide an opportunity for Scott Wright or Ross McCausland to come in and play out wide, with Fabio Silva on the other flank.
Nicolas Raskin and Kieran Dowell, meanwhile, could look to benefit from Lundstram's suspension, after the midfielder was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Alistair Johnston in the first half on Saturday.
Finally, Lawrence will need to be replaced in the starting XI against Dundee tonight and Clement must now unleash Todd Cantwell in his place.
Tom Lawrence's performance against Celtic
The Wales international has been ruled out of the game tonight with an unspecified issue but may have been dropped even if he had been available, due to his underwhelming showing at Parkhead.
He was selected to start in the number ten role behind Cyriel Dessers in the Old Firm clash and failed to put in an impressive performance for the Scottish giants.
Minutes played
60
Goals + assists
0
Key passes
0
Passes completed
10/13
Dribbles completed
0
Crosses completed
0
Duels won
2/4
As you can see in the table above, Lawrence offered almost nothing to the team in possession with zero goal contributions, zero chances created, zero dribbles or crosses, and just ten passes completed in 60 minutes.
Lundstram's sending-off, of course, did not help the midfielder as he had to drop deep and sit next to Mohammed Diomande but there were 46 minutes of action before the red card, and he did very little in that time.
The former Derby County star has not had the most productive of seasons in the Scottish Premiership so far this term, as he has struggled to provide goals and assists on a regular basis.
Lawrence has racked up two goals and three assists in 23 league appearances for the Gers during the 2023/24 campaign, which is one direct involvement every 4.6 matches on average.
The Welsh dynamo has not delivered goals or assists consistently as an attacking midfielder and that, coupled with his dismal showing in the Old Firm, is why Clement should have dropped him from the XI for this match even if he had been available to play.
Why Todd Cantwell should be unleashed
The Rangers boss should now replace Lawrence in the lineup with former Norwich star Cantwell, who could shine alongside Diomande in the middle of the park.
He should start in the number ten role ahead of the Ghanaian dynamo and they could provide an attacking spark for the Scottish giants in midfield.
Diomande has scored two goals and made 1.5 key passes per game across 11 Scottish Premiership appearances since his move to the club in the last transfer window.
This shows that the left-footed ace can create chances for his teammates on a consistent basis from a deep-lying midfield position, which could make him the dream player to play behind Cantwell as he has the ability in possession to find the English maestro in dangerous positions frequently.
The ex-Norwich wizard is a creative midfield player who can make an impact as both a scorer and a creator of goals from a number ten role for Rangers, as proven by his form in the Premiership so far this season.
Cantwell, who produced six goals and four assists in 16 league matches in the second half of last term, has outperformed Lawrence as an attacking threat, which is why Clement should unleash him from the start against Dundee.
Appearances
23
28
Sofascore rating
7.06
7.28
Goals
2
5
Assists
3
4
Big chances created
4
5
Key passes per game
1.1
1.6
As you can see in the table above, the £22k-per-week ace has provided more goals, more assists, more 'big chances', and more key passes per game than his Welsh teammate in the Premiership.
The 26-year-old star, who was hailed as a "catalyst" for Rangers by journalist Josh Bunting, has more quality at the top end of the pitch and could, therefore, improve the team's attack by being unleashed tonight.
With Lawrence out, Cantwell appears to be the perfect player to bring straight into the XI to line up in the number ten role ahead of Diomande, and hopefully both players will use their quality on the ball to punish Dundee this evening.
