By Pranav Shahaney

16th Mar, 2023 | 4:40pm

Rangers predicted XI v Motherwell: John Lundstram to be axed as Michael Beale to experiment new system

Michael Beale has hinted at a Rangers formation change and we do see him deploying a back three against Motherwell on Saturday, 18 March, at Fir Park.

With Borna Barisic likely to miss out due to the birth of his child, Ridvan Yilmaz will come into the side and instead of left-back, will play at left wing-back.

The other two changes will be John Lundstram and Fashion Sakala making way for Malik Tillman and John Souttar who will slot into the back three.

Souttar’s had a rotten luck with injuries since he joined Rangers, but now he’s fit and looks set to be challenging for a place in the playing eleven.

He’s certainly more physical than Connor Goldson and arguably a better passer than him as well and it’ll be interesting to see him at right centre-back.

James Tavernier loves going forward and has been criticised for not doing enough defensively but with the extra cover at the back, he won’t be exposed as he normally does on the transition.

With Ben Davies on the other side of Goldson, the Englishman can anchor this side perfectly as they’ll look to dominate proceedings from the get go.

While Tillman isn’t a central midfield per se, he can bomb forward with Nicolas Raskin anchoring the midfield as Gers are expected to have a lot of possession in the middle and final thirds.

Combining with Todd Cantwell, Ryan Kent and Antonio Colak, Rangers will still have four attacking players that will be posing a serious threat in the penalty area.

Yilmaz too, has been out with injury for a while and may prefer playing as a wing-back instead of an orthodox full-back.

Antonio Colak appears to be the man Beale is going to be picking and we expect him to lead the line and perhaps even score a goal or two this weekend.

In other Rangers news, a pundit with insider information at Ibrox has shared one condition that will make Douglas Park leave the club.