Sport
Rangers injury latest for Aberdeen as two fresh absentees confirmed
Rangers take on Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership this evening with a chance to go top of the division.
Three points against Neil Warnock’s Dons will usurp Celtic at the summit on the goal difference before they play Hibernian tomorrow evening in Edinburgh.
But Philippe Clement insists the focus is solely on his side and a game-by-game approach will divert their attention towards any sort of title race chat.
As far as injury news is concerned, Rangers have been dealt two fresh blows. Clement confirmed that as his pre-match presser on Monday while also sharing he will still be without Ben Davies, Kemar Roofe, Danilo and Kieran Dowell.
However, the Belgian had this to say about Davies and Roofe in what are positive developments: “Ben Davies is close. He trained already a bit with the team but he’s not ready yet to be in the selection. And Kemar Roofe is getting also better and better but he’s not training with the group yet.”
Rangers injury news vs Aberdeen
Ryan Jack
The two new Rangers injury updates in question concern Ryan Jack and Leon Balogun. Jack started against Livingston – his first in the Premiership since the trip to Livi in December – but was subbed off after 61 minutes.
The 31-year-old isn’t injured again. Instead, Clement is leaving him out of tonight’s game due to his injury history and is keen to manage his involvement cautiously.
The manager told the media: “I can tell you guys already Ryan Jack will not be in the selection tomorrow because he comes out of injury, he has also a history of injuries and it’s only a short recovery time in between the two games.
“So I will not take risk with him now and we will build him with our medical staff, with our performance staff the next weeks, the next months, to make him more robust, that he can come out of this cycle of injuries that he had. So that’s planning long-term…”
Leon Balogun
As for Balogun, he picked up what appeared to be a facial fracture just 22 minutes into Saturday’s encounter as John Souttar replaced him at the heart of the Rangers defence.
The Nigerian will now see a specialist and that’s all Clement could tell us about the 35-year-old’s situation. He said: “Leon, I don’t know yet. He’s this afternoon (Monday) with the surgeon to speak about the surgery, what is necessary with the specialist to see if he needs surgery or not, and then we will know better. So he will also not be selectable.
“He’s with a specialist today (Monday), so he will decide what is the surgery. I am not a doctor or specialist.”
