Daniel Feliciano

Fri 29 December 2023 13:51, UK

Philippe Clement has confirmed that Connor Goldson is back in training and could play for Rangers in the huge Old Firm derby clash against Celtic on Saturday.

Goldson was seen as a “major doubt” for the game after picking up a groin injury against Motherwell last week, but the boss has admitted he will make a decision on the day of the game about him playing in the game or not.

There were no updates on injured players John Lundstram, Nicolas Raskin, Ryan Jack and Tom Lawrence but the boss did confirm that Kemar Roofe and Danilo are still out injured for the game.

“Goldson has trained,” he said. “We will assess tomorrow. We will see tomorrow. I will make my decisions tomorrow after speaking with the doctor and the medical staff.

Must-win

There is a huge Old Firm derby in the running on Saturday afternoon, and it will probably be the first real test of Clement’s managerial tenure.

With so many injury problems it’s a big issue for the manager to try and solve ahead of the biggest game of his season, because it will be sure to separate himself from Michael Beale.

All fans will remember how well Beale did in games at the start of his tenure but he always came up short against Celtic when it mattered, and Clement must avoid that happening again in his first Old Firm derby.

Heading to Parkhead is never easy and even our best teams have struggled there in the past, but this is a chance to really close the gap at the top of the table and still have two games in hand on them in the process.

With so many big decisions to make ahead of the game, Clement must get them right to avoid the same old questions being asked. All three points are there for the taking in a way that they haven’t been in a while.

In other Rangers news, internal talks held over 177-goal ace for January deal before Fabio Silva deal done.