Clement axes int’L ace, in-form player also left out – Confirmed Rangers XI

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has named his starting line-up for the Scottish Premiership clash with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

The Gers have the chance to climb top of the table outright with a victory following Celtic’s 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock on Saturday (17 February).

Clement has made five changes to the side that beat Ross County 3-1 in midweek, as confirmed by the club’s Twitter account [18 February].

Cyriel Dessers, Rabbi Matondo and Ross McCausland all drop out of the side, while Oscar Cortes, Scott Wright and Fabio Silva come into a much-changed attack.

Mohamed Diomande replaces Tom Lawrence in holding midfield alongside birthday boy John Lundstram, meanwhile, and there is a change at left-back as Borna Barisic is preferred to Turkey international Ridvan Yilmaz.

Phillipe Clement makes big call on Cyriel Dessers

Dessers scored twice in the midweek win over Ross County, but he could easily have had four or five goals had he taken more of his chances.

With those two goals, the striker now has five in his last nine and two assists, but Clement has decided to leave him out of the XI here, likely for fitness reasons.

Matondo was taken off at the interval last time out, so the Welshman dropping out is not a major surprise, while McCausland is another who is perhaps being protected.

It means that January arrivals Silva and Cortes, as well as Wright, each have a chance to impress and show why they deserve to be regular starters.

Fellow newbie Diomande will also look to put in an eye-catching display from a deeper position, with Lawrence among the substitutes.

Four of the back five – including goalkeeper Jack Butland – remains as you were, with Clement preferring opting for some continuity in defence following another clean sheet.

This line-up is certainly strong enough to see off St Johnstone, and that would be enough to take the Light Blues above Celtic at the summit.