Rangers starting XI vs St Mirren: 2 changes as Clement make huge calls on Connor Goldson and Wolves loanee

Rangers boss Philippe Clement has named his starting XI and substitutes for this afternoon’s lunchtime Scottish Premiership clash against St Mirren in Paisley.

The Belgian boss has made TWO changes to his line-up from the side that progressed to the Scottish Cup final with a convincing 2-0 win over Hearts at Hampden Park last weekend. Leon Balogun impressed enough to retain his spot at centre-back, with Connor Goldson left on the bench. Injured duo Rabbi Matondo and and Abdallah Sima drop out, with Borna Barisic and Fabio Silva coming into the side. Barisic will slot in at left-back, allowing Dujon Sterling to play higher up the left flank.

Ridvan Yilmaz and Ryan Jack miss out but are expected back in training next week, while Scott Wright is included among the substitutes after being left out of the previous two matchday squads.

What has Philippe Clement said?

“I tell the (players to) win the next game. It’s the only way. Everybody who is busy with more games loses their focus. If we had a bad week you need the next game to be there. If you win then you need to win the next one also or it’s not good. If you don’t win you need to react in the next game. It’s as simple as that.

“If you look back at the last six months, we are the team that’s taken the most points. We have four points more than Celtic in that period. We won the League Cup final, we also won against Hearts and they drew against Aberdeen.

“So I think everybody in the club would have signed for that six months ago. Nobody would have believed that would be possible. It’s now about repeating that again. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s something they have proven already and now they have to prove it again.”

Here's your confirmed starting line ups ahead of today’s league encounter at the SMiSA Stadium...

Rangers starting XI (4-2-3-1):

Jack Butland, James Tavernier (C), Leon Balogun, John Souttar, Borna Barisic, John Lundstram, Mohamed Diomande, Todd Cantwell, Dujon Sterling, Fabio Silva, Cyriel Dessers.

SUBS: Robby McCrorie (GK), Connor Goldson, Tom Lawrence Kieran Dowell, Scott Wright, Kemar Roofe, Ben Davies, Nicolas Raskin, Ross McCausland.

St Mirren starting XI (3-4-2-1):

Zach Hemming, James Bolton, Alex Gogic, Marcus Fraser, Ryan Strain, Mark O’Hara (C), Caolan Boyd-Munce, Scott Tanser, Conor McMenamin, Mikael Mandron, Greg Kiltie.

SUBS: Peter Urminsky (GK), Charles Dunne, Richard Taylor, Elvis Bwomono, Jaden Brown, Keanu Baccus, Lewis Jamieson, James Scott, Toyosi Olusanya.