Rangers travel to St Mirren on Sunday looking to avoid slipping six points adrift of their hosts in the Scottish Premiership standings.
While the Glasgow giants have already lost three domestic games this season, St Mirren are unbeaten and eager to keep within touching distance of leaders Celtic.
Match preview
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When Rangers opted to part ways with Michael Beale as head coach, they would have hoped that interim boss Steven Davis would be able to instigate an immediate upturn in performances.
Instead, Rangers were desperately poor in losing out to Aris Limassol in the Europa League, with the 2-1 defeat undoing the work from the 1-0 triumph over Real Betis in their group opener.
Although halving the deficit with 20 minutes kept Davis's side competitive, there was a lack of belief that an equaliser in Cyprus would follow, and Rangers now face a battle to qualify for the knockout stages.
From a domestic standpoint, Rangers are still rocking from losing 3-1 at home to Aberdeen last weekend, the deficit to Celtic already at seven points after just seven matches.
With just two points separating them to fifth, the priority must be ensuring that they do not end up in a battle for anything worse than second, a scenario that highlights their decline since the start of the campaign.
As far as St Mirren are concerned, there is an argument that this is one of their biggest matches in recent memory as they have a chance to go six points clear of Rangers and put them right in the mix for Champions League qualification at the end of the season.
Of course, there is a long way to go, but Stephen Robinson's side are unbeaten through seven games and have shown their character through each of their four victories being by one-goal margins.
Robinson may prefer that St Mirren retain their underdog status, and that is how it remains despite Rangers' recent form, but another triumph at the weekend would inject much-needed interest in the race for the top two.
On the flip side, St Mirren drew 1-1 with an out-of-form Kilmarnock last time out, a result that came on the back of their 4-2 defeat at the hands of Hibernian in the Scottish League Cup.
Team News
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Barring any fitness issues, Robinson may be unwilling to tinker with his St Mirren XI, even after the disappointment of last weekend.
Although Thierry Small has made two substitute outings over the past 10 days, the left-sided player will likely remain among the replacements.
Alex Greive is also expected to stay on the bench, despite being the only St Mirren player to score at least twice in the league during 2023-24.
Scott Wright will be absent for Rangers after his sending off against Aberdeen, Jose Cifuentes potentially in line to take his place.
That may see Sam Lammers switch to the right, while Kemar Roofe is also an option to come back into the attack.
Kieran Dowell, Todd Cantwell, Tom Lawrence, Rabbi Matondo and Danilo all remain absent for the visitors.
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Hemming; Fraser, Gogic, Dunne; Strain, Baccus, O'Hara, Tanser; McMenamin, Mandron, Kiltie
Rangers possible starting lineup:
Butland; Tavernier, Goldson, Davies, Barisic; Lundstram, Raskin; Lammers, Cifuentes, Sima; Dessers
We say: St Mirren 1-1 Rangers
While some fans will see this game as a must win, Rangers may view it as a must-not-lose in the grand scheme of things. The short turnaround makes this difficult for the visitors, and we feel that they may only do enough to earn a share of the spoils.
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