Gio van Bronckhorst will be hoping to guide his Rangers side to back-to-back wins as they return to Premiership action at Ibrox on Saturday.
The Gers ended a run of three straight draws in all competitions by securing a 1-0 win in midweek and now have the chance to build on that this weekend.
Glen Kamara scored the only goal of the game as they beat St Johnstone last Wednesday, and they are set to play host to Aberdeen in the league on Saturday afternoon.
Will Rangers beat Aberdeen?
Yes
No
Unleash Sakala
One player who Van Bronckhorst must unleash from the start this weekend is Fashion Sakala, after he was surprisingly dropped for the win over St Johnstone.
He put in an excellent showing in the draw with Motherwell but was dropped to the bench in midweek as Scott Arfield lined up in the front three instead of him. This may have been down to fitness or simple rotation from the Dutch head coach, but he should now bring the Zambian straight back into the starting XI tomorrow to play in the attacking trident alongside Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent.
Against Motherwell, Sakala was a constant threat to the opposition. As per SofaScore, he created three chances for his team-mates, completed one dribble and hit four shots at goal, one of which landed in the back of the net as he brilliantly swept home a cross from Kent to make it 2-0 at the time.
Over the course of the campaign, the 24-year-old has averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.01 as he has scored seven goals and provided one assist in 22 Premiership matches.
The “firework” – in the words of Alan Hutton, who also said that he “plays at 100 miles per hour” – has averaged 1.2 key passes per game and created four ‘big chances’ – suggesting that he deserves more than one assist – whilst missing three huge opportunities in front of goal himself.
Meanwhile, Arfield has four goals and zero assists in 21 matches this term. He has missed a whopping seven ‘big chances’ and created none for his team-mates, which suggests that he is incredibly wasteful in front of goal whilst offering no creative threat for the other players in the team.
Therefore, Sakala is far better than the Canadian out on the right, as he is the better finisher out of the two and is able to deliver chances for his team-mates to finish off. The summer signing simply offers more in the final third and that is why he must be unleashed from the start against Aberdeen.
AND in other news, Forget Roofe: Van Bronckhorst can save Rangers millions in “big talent” who scores every 41 minutes…