Fashion Sakala and Antonio Colak both dropped – Confirmed Rangers starting XI vs Dundee United
Michael Beale’s confirmed Rangers starting XI for the Scottish Premiership visit of Dundee United to Ibrox has been confirmed by the club.
The manager has dropped both Fashion Sakala and Antonio Colak to the bench from the 4-2 win over Motherwell on 18 March, with Alfredo Morelos and Malik Tillman coming in, while Borna Barisic is also back in place of Ridvan Yilmaz after the birth of his child.
Zambian forward Sakala has been key under Beale while Colak looked to have won back the striker’s role with Morelos possibly on his way out of the club, but the two who have 20 league goals between them this season are among the subs.
Ryan Kent is the third forward man, while the midfield three of Ryan Jack, John Lundstram and Todd Cantwell are unchanged.
Allan McGregor makes his 500th Gers appearance, while James Tavenier, Connor Goldson and Ben Davies round out the back four.
Looking ahead
Clearly Rangers can’t go out at against the Tangerines with complacency but the SPFL’s bottom side should be a straight-forward three points.
Although Connor Goldson was talking up the possibility that the title race isn’t over ahead of the game this is exactly the sort of match that has produced a flat performance over the past year.
With Celtic not dropping points the gap looks like it will be too great to reel them in, but there is no excuse not to secure an expected win even if there isn’t the motivation of a pressing title race.
The Old Firm derby is on the horizon next weekend (8 April), so a good performance ahead of that is important to go into the clash with some momentum.
Looking too far ahead and slipping up at home to the league strugglers would provide a poor atmosphere ahead of Beale’s third attempt to get a first win over Celtic.
And if the Gers are to generate some suspense before the end of the league season they will need to win both games just the same even if they are against teams at either end of the table.
In other Rangers news, one first-team ace is surely leaving to a European club who can make a perfect sales pitch to him.