Rangers confirmed starting XI v Aberdeen: John Lundstram axed in one change
Michael Beale is hoping to go two from two with Rangers as they head to Pittodrie to face Jim Goodwin’s Aberdeen on Tuesday (20 December).
The Light Blues had to come from behind twice at home to Hibernian on Thursday (15 December) in order for Beale to make the perfect start to life as the new Gers manager.
But this is a whole new test for the man in the hot seat and he has made some changes to suit the style Goodwin could try to play against him.
Most notably, Beale has opted not to play to central midfielders at centre-half after Ryan Porteous’ simple-headed goal from a corner at Ibrox with Connor Goldson coming into the defence in place of John Lundstram
Rangers can narrow the gap at the top to six points, briefly, with victory at Pittodrie with Celtic hosting Livingston at Parkhead on Wednesday (21 December).
Building blocks
This season is a very difficult one for Beale as he has to keep on winning every single game while trying to put the foundations in place for a more fruitful future.
Celtic have the edge in the Old Firm battle right now but it has been tasked of the new manager to swing the pendulum towards Ibrox once more and keep it there for some time.
To have any chance of lifting the Premiership title from this far back, Rangers have to be almost perfect all the way to the end of the season and beat Celtic on all three occasions they will play each other.
This is as tough as it gets other than that, however, with Aberdeen sat third in the league and Celtic made a meal of things at the weekend, only to score late and win the game.
Rangers simply must match that points tally to keep the pressure up on Ange Postecoglu’s side or else they can kiss goodbye to their hopes of being Scottish champions this season.
In other Rangers news, Lee Bowyer has finally backtracked on what he said about Joe Aribo’s move to Ibrox following his subsequent success.