‘Act of God’ – Murray claims Rangers handed huge boost
Former Rangers player Neil Murray has called it an “act of God” after it was thrown into doubt whether two Celtic players will be able to play in the Old Firm later this month.
Since joining up with the France Under-21s, striker Odsonne Edouard has tested positive for COVID-19 while Ryan Christie has been forced to self-isolate after being in close contact with Stuart Armstrong, who’s also received a positive test.
Both players could be forced to miss the clash at Celtic Park on October 17 and Murray believes that it would be a huge boost for Rangers if they did.
“It’s very much an act of God situation where nobody is at fault and it’s just a bad hand Celtic have been dealt,” Murray told the Daily Record.
“Football goes on and Rangers will try to capitalise on that misfortune. It works both ways and Celtic would be the same had the roles been reversed. That said, Rangers won’t treat the game any differently to how they would have without Celtic losing arguably their two most important attacking players.
“Rangers have shown this season they have their own brand and style of playing and that won’t change. They will try to impose themselves on the game as they would normally.
“Having Edouard and Christie missing won’t change their approach to the match in any way, shape or form. What Celtic will miss in Edouard is a proven goalscorer but more importantly, he’s a proven goalscorer against Rangers in particular.
“He has been such a key player in Old Firm games in recent seasons so that’s a huge blow
for Celtic.”
Edouard has played all but two of Celtic’s Scottish Premiership matches this season while Christie has featured in all nine of them.
French striker Edouard has scored four league goals for the Bhoys while Christie has scored two goals and assisted five.
Both are extremely important players for Neil Lennon and whether Rangers fans rate them or not, Celtic are definitely going to miss them in the first Old Firm derby of the season next weekend – especially as Edouard has six goals in his nine appearances against the Light Blues.
Rangers have to capitalise on that.
Steven Gerrard has led the Gers back to winning ways in the Glasgow derby but it needs to happen on a more regular basis if the Govan side wants to win the Scottish Premiership title and kill Celtic’s hopes of a 10th championship in a row.
In other Rangers news, there’s been a major new twist in Alfredo Morelos’ future at Ibrox.