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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Aidan Smith

Rangers team news as Philippe Clement names side for Hearts game

Philippe Clement has made two changes to his side for this evening’s Scottish Premiership match against Hearts.

From Sunday’s victory over St Mirren, Ridvan and Danilo both come into the starting XI with Cyriel Dessers on the bench and Borna Barisic not in the matchday squad. 

That means Rangers line-up at Tynecastle with Jack Butland in goal and a back four of James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Leon Balogun and Ridvan. 

The manager sticks with the same midfield as the weekend with John Lundstram, Tom Lawrence and Todd Cantwell starting in the middle of the park. 

Danilo comes back in to lead the line for this one, and is supported in attack by Ross McCausland and Abdallah Sima. 

On the bench this evening are Robby McCrorie, John Souttar, Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers, Jose Cifuentes, Rabbi Matondo, Dujon Sterling, Kemar Roofe and Ben Davies. 

RANGERS: Butland, Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Ridvan, Lundstram, Lawrence, Cantwell, McCausland, Sima, Danilo. 

Subs: McCrorie, Souttar, Dessers, Lammers, Cifuentes, Matondo, Sterling, Roofe, Davies.

In his pre-match press conference, Clement promised Rangers fans that the club will clear up the current injury situation.

The number of injuries sustained by Rangers players was raised at the club's AGM, where the board met shareholders at New Edmiston House.

Clement insists the club's new head of performance Tom Taylor, who arrives from Brighton on Friday, December 22 this year, will make a huge difference in terms of recovery and overall injury prevention.

"I spoke about that, it’s case by case," he insisted. "We have to go and look at what can be the cause and it’s several things. 

"The human body, not enough training, a lot of other things. That’s why, also, it was important to get a really good director of performance into the building. 

"We have a lot of good staff in the building working really hard with the players. 

"I have seen the players working hard, also the injured players, to do their best. 

"So we are going to work in a good way together to make these things work better here at Rangers. 

"So I can make a promise around that. Give us a few months to make everything better and you will see much fewer injuries, I can promise that to everyone."

"We found somebody who is really good at making players better, who had problems before. 

"Tom Taylor is really good and comes into the club from Brighton, a club with a good reputation the last couple of years at getting players in at not the highest prices. Also, players who had injuries before, but are fit and good at Brighton. 

"I had this experience at my other clubs, that the players were more fit than they were before. "

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