Title challengers Rangers travel to Paisley to face a faltering St Mirren side in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday lunchtime.
Philippe Clement's side did what they had to do on their return to league action in midweek, closing the gap on Celtic to five points.
Match preview
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Rangers resumed their league campaign with a 3-0 thrashing in the capital away to Hibernian on Wednesday, taking full advantage of one of their games in hand over Celtic.
It leaves them five points behind their bitter rivals heading into the weekend, with their other game in hand coming against Ross County in mid-February.
Clement will know his side are likely going to need to pick up the maximum of nine points before that encounter, with Celtic back in excellent form.
Their record over St Mirren should give them plenty of confidence, before they also face bottom-placed Livingston and an improving Aberdeen in the next three.
In 48 competitive meetings with St Mirren, Rangers have won 40, remaining unbeaten in their last 11, winning 10.
Their three defeats have all come here in Paisley though, but the last in the league came all the way back in 2011, as St Mirren have only got the better of them in a cup quarter-final since then, in 2020.
The next Old Firm derby does not come around until the penultimate matchday of the regular season, so perfection must be maintained if Rangers want to stay in the title race heading into April.
St Mirren's dismal record against Rangers falls in line with their recent form too, as they slid down the table late in 2023.
After looking like contenders to finish third earlier in the season, they now find themselves 10 points behind Hearts in that position.
Stephen Robinson's side won 22 points from their opening 13 games and sat just behind the top two, but they have taken just seven points in the following nine matches and fallen to fifth.
Their hopes of finishing in the top six now appear under threat, as even though they have six and seven-point buffers over Aberdeen and Dundee, they have played three games more and are in much worse form.
With no games to catch up on, this will be their first league outing since losing 3-0 to Celtic here at the start of the month, but they were in cup action last weekend, edging past Queen of the South thanks to Alex Gogic's second-half strike.
Team News
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Toyosi Olusanya's red card in their defeat against Celtic means the St Mirren forward will be suspended for this one, while Ryan Strain is the only other absentee with a groin injury.
The hosts have had some activity in the transfer market, and Hyeok-kyu Kwon made his debut in the cup win over Queen of the South following his arrival on loan from Celtic.
There has been a recent departure though, with Alex Greive going out on loan to Championship side Dundee United.
Rangers have also utilised the loan market this month, bringing Fabio Silva in from Wolverhampton Wanderers, and he made his first start in the midweek win.
With Danilo, Abdallah Sima and Kemar Roofe all absent with injury, Silva can expect to keep his place in the side after leading the line in that success.
Kieran Dowell and Ben Davies are both doubtful with recent setbacks, as Clement may stick with a similar XI despite the short turnaround from Wednesday.
Ridvan Yilmaz scored his first league goal for Rangers in midweek, and opposite full-back James Tavernier has a strong record against St Mirren, having scored six career goals against their upcoming opponents.
After a year out with a knee injury, Steven Davis announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 39 on Thursday, having also had a stint as manager following Michael Beale's sacking earlier this season.
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Hemming; Bolton, Gogic, Taylor; Fraser, Boyd-Munce, Flynn, Kiltie, Tanser; Ayunga, Mandron
Rangers possible starting lineup:
Butland; Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar, Yilmaz; Lundstram, Raskin, Cantwell; McCausland, Fabio Silva, Matondo
We say: St Mirren 0-3 Rangers
Being given the opportunity to play in the early kick-off slot and put the pressure on Celtic, who do not play until 3pm, Rangers will expect a comfortable victory against a struggling St Mirren side.
The hosts were comfortably beaten here by Celtic in their last Premiership outing and have now failed to score in three straight home league games, and a repeat could be in store.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
