Confirmed: John Souttar, Nicolas Raskin, Rabbi Matondo and Kemar Roofe out for Rangers v Hearts in League Cup semi-final
Rangers are set to welcome back three first-team stars for contention in their League Cup semi-final clash with Hearts, but four players have been ruled out.
Philippe Clement has confirmed while speaking to the press (3 November) that John Souttar, Rabbi Matondo, Nicolas Raskin and Kemar Roofe are all unavailable for the clash.
But Dujon Sterling, Tom Lawrence and Ben Davies have recovered and are available for selection, while Jose Cifuentes and Kieran Dowell made their returns in midweek.
“John Souttar will not be available for selection, Nico Raskin, Rabbi Matondo and Kemar Roofe will also be unavailable,” he said.
“Should everything go well, everyone else should be available.”
Must win
The team have been so much better and so much more fun to watch since Philippe Clement took over from Michael Beale, but things haven’t been perfect.
There are still a host of injuries and the win against Hearts last time out was undoubtedly on the more fortunate side of things with two very late goals.
But irrespective of that this is simply a must-win game. A chance for silverware for the new manager but also a chance to prove our dominance and get the winning feeling in the squad once again.
The manager is getting closer to finding his best team having seemingly nailed down the right system for his squad, and despite all the injury problems whatever team that he puts out should be good enough to win if we play to our capabilities.
The international break is just a week or so away and that should provide an opportunity to get some of those injured players back, but Clement is aware there are no excuses. We must win at Hampden Park.
In other Rangers news, Clement stance emerges on first-team player out of contract in June 2024.