Rangers suffer huge injury blow as they chase Celtic
Celtic’s 2-0 defeat vs St Mirren has allowed the Rangers to get back into the title race. The lead at the top has been cut down from five to two points. And while a few weeks back, it was looking like the Hoops were going to walk to the Premiership trophy this time around, it is pretty clear that that won’t be the case in a 38 game-long campaign.
While Celtic’s defeat against St Mirren might have been a major blow for Ange Postecoglou’s side, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men have had their own struggles as well.
They lost three games on the trot recently, at the hands of Celtic, Ajax and Napoli, while conceding 11 unanswered goals. Their 2-1 win over Dundee United might have snapped that streak, but it was not the most convincing victory either.
And now, there seems to be some more bad news for the Rangers fans. John Souttar is not expected to be back in action until after the World Cup. As reported by Football Scotland, Van Bronckhorst said about the defender:
"“John [Souttar], we expect him after the World Cup.”"
Rangers suffer injury blow as they try to chase down Celtic in the league
Souttar might have played some good football before joining the Rangers, but his injury history is well documented.
Souttar has had to deal with several long-term injuries through the course of his career already, even though he just recently turned 26 years of age. This looks like another one on that list.
According to stats from Transfermarkt, Souttar has made just one appearance for the Rangers till now and played 67 minutes in total.
That came in the opening game of the Premiership campaign. The defender has been out of action since then and won’t be back anytime soon.
On the other hand, Celtic have their own injury problems at centre-back, with both Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers on the sidelines.