da doce： [ad_pod ]
da gbg bet： Rangers will look to boost their chances of reaching the knockout stages of the Europa League when they host Villarreal at Ibrox on Thursday night.
The Glasgow giants have won one, drawn two and lost one of their four fixtures so far, but a closely-contested Group G means that they are in third position but just one point off both the top and the bottom of the table.
Having drawn 2-2 in the corresponding fixture in September, a victory against Villarreal could prove to be crucial in the Steven Gerrard’s men’s bid to reach the round of 32.
On the chalkboard
While the Scottish Premiership outfit have only conceded 11 goals in 13 league fixtures to date this term, it has sometimes been a different story for them in Europe.
Last time out, they suffered a defensive disasterclass as they conceded four goals in Russia against Spartak Moscow, while they also let in two on the road against Villarreal.
Gerrard will know that his team can’t afford a repeat of those performances if they are to get the win they crave on Thursday, and he must make changes to his backline to ensure that is the case.
Playmaker FC’s Matchday with Max caught up with Jamaica’s women’s team. See what happened when he met the history makers in the video below…
What changes should he make?
Captain James Tavernier and Connor Goldson are pretty much guaranteed starters in the Rangers backline right now, but the other centre-back and left-back roles are far less certain.
Gareth McAuley has started the previous two league games and came on as a late substitute against Spartak – although he hasn’t featured in the Europa League aside from that – and given the impressive partnership Goldson and Joe Worrall had earlier in the season they should start at the heart of the defence against the Yellow Submarine.
Meanwhile, another 2018 arrival in Jon Flanagan has largely alternated with Andy Halliday at left-back, but with Borna Barisic potentially fit for Thursday’s huge clash having been out of action since the end of September, he must come back into the side to deal with the Villarreal threat given the ex-Liverpool man suffered a nightmare night in Moscow previously.