Celtic’s 2-0 loss at the hands of St Mirren handed the Rangers a lifeline in the Scottish Premiership. Their lead was cut down from five points to two and now, another poor result could hand Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side the chance to take the lead, despite having lost 4-0 against the Hoops earlier on in the campaign.
Rangers are going through their own issues at this point of time though, as a number of players are struggling with injuries.
One player who has been out for a while is Tom Lawrence. He was initially expected to be back soon but has now suffered a setback, which is expected to keep him out for months. Thus, it is another major blow to the Rangers’ hopes of catching up with Celtic in the Premiership table.
As reported by the Daily Record, Van Bronckhorst said about the situation involving Lawrence:
"“Tom Lawrence’s recovery went on schedule but he sustained a new injury this week. We have to wait to see how long he’ll be out but it will be longer term. Probably more months than weeks. I don’t think we’ll have him back before the World Cup.”"
Rangers suffer another massive injury blow as they attempt to catch up with Celtic
Lawrence was signed by the Rangers this summer and he actually made a good start to life at Ibrox. According to stats from Transfermarkt, he has scored 2 goals and provided 2 assists in 5 Premiership appearances till now.
Thus, the Wales international’s absence is a big blow to the Rangers. But at the same time, they are not the only team struggling with injury problems at the moment.
At Celtic, they have their first-choice centre-back duo of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt out injured at the moment. And the partnership of Moritz Jenz and Stephen Welsh has not exactly flourished in their absence.
That is believed to be a major cause in the downturn in form for Celtic since the 4-0 win over the Rangers. Since then, they have lost twice, drawn once and won one game. Hopefully, the Hoops will have their defensive duo back soon and get their campaign back on track.