Rangers continue their Europa League campaign with a trip to Switzerland tonight and will hope to beat Young Boys in an attempt to overtake Porto as leaders of group B.
Other than a 2-0 loss to Celtic the Gers have started the season in good form, remaining undefeated in their other 17 matches, dating back to July for the Europa League qualifiers.
Steven Gerrard is rightly in a confident mood, and believes his side can “hurt Young Boys”, a comment which brought much amusement on social media.
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The team should be buoyed by the fact they have already equalled the amount of wins they picked up in last year’s group stage – one – with an assured performance over Feyenoord in which they had 20 shots, suggesting they are better-placed to qualify this time around.
However, a key factor in their early exit last term was their poor away form, failing to pick up a win in visits to Villareal, Spartak Moscow and Rapid Vienna – so tonight could prove troublesome.
Here is our predicted line-up for the visit to Young Boys.
Consistency has been key for the Glasgow outfit this season, and that is reflected by the fact eleven players have made 12 or more appearances so far, despite the often quick turnaround in matches.
With that in mind, it is unlikely Gerrard will make too many changes to the side which demolished Aberdeen 5-0 last weekend, although Glen Kamara could come back into the side after featuring in their last European fixture.
The 23-year-old should provide greater defensive cover in midfield than what Greg Stewart offers. From his 11 games this season he has averaged 2.7 tackles per game and 7.5 recoveries in the opposition half.
That highlights the energy he provides in midfield, which will be essential to combating Young Boys’ threat, particularly Jean-Pierre Nsame who has 12 goals in 14 appearances this term.
Going forward, the front three have been effective in most of the matches they have played this season, with 20 goals and nine assists between them.
Morelos will typically have the responsibility of putting away chances, but after his stunning winner against Feyenoord at Ibrox, Sheyi Ojo could have another key role to play.
If the winger can find his best form he should prove tricky to deal with, as his record of 4.2 successful dribbles attests to, and should he combine with Morelos to get Rangers firing, then they have a good chance of taking something from the match.
