Michael Beale revealed Malik Tillman, Ryan Jack and John Lundstram are “big doubts” for Rangers’ League Cup final against Celtic at Hampden Park next Sunday.
The midfield trio missed the 3-0 cinch Premiership win over Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena which kept them nine points behind the leaders, Celtic.
The Rangers captain, James Tavernier, grabbed a double, one from the spot, before the substitute Kemar Roofe added a third. The home side ended the game with 10 men after the midfielder Stéphane Omeonga was shown a second yellow card by the referee, David Dickinson, in the 77th minute.
As he turned his attention towards the Old Firm showdown, Beale, who has won 13 and drawn one since taking over as Rangers manager, said: “They are big doubts because they were not available today. Malik has a problem with his hamstring, Jacko has a problem with his calf and John with his ankle.
“I’m optimistic they will return to training at the back end of the week, with maybe Scott Arfield, but it will be touch and go.
“What you saw today might be what we have and I was delighted with what we got today from the players. I have had to take a few deep breaths when other players have gone down injured this week. But you have to trust your next group of players. Everything I needed to see today I saw. We will now wrap the boys up as we have a full week to prepare for the cup final.”
Ange Postecoglou stressed there were no doubts about Kyogo Furuhashi’s fitness for the final after the Celtic forward spent most of the 4-0 win over Aberdeen on the bench.
Furuhashi showed no ill effects from the shoulder injury that forced him off the previous weekend after he came on in the 71st minute.
“I just thought before the game it was good chance to get [Hyeongyu] Oh some minutes. Kyogo has been outstanding in recent times and it was going to be hard for us to find a game for Oh with the fact we are only playing a game a week at the moment.
“I didn’t want to go too long without giving Oh a start and I thought this was a good opportunity to do that. But Kyogo is fine, he is raring to go and looking forward to next week now.”
Reo Hatate was the star of the show, netting in each half with impressive skill, after Callum McGregor sent Celtic on their way in the second minute. The substitute Liel Abada rounded off the scoring with an excellent finish in the 89th minute.
Hibernian stretched their unbeaten run to six league games and moved into fourth in the table with a comfortable 2-0 victory over 10-man Kilmarnock.
Will Fish headed in the opener after only 16 minutes and a second from the substitute Matthew Hoppe two minutes after the break earned them an advantage that rarely looked under threat.
St Mirren moved up to fifth courtesy of a 1–0 win over Ross County in Paisley as Declan Gallagher’s eighth-minute header proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Stevie May was the St Johnstone hero as they heaped more misery on their Tayside rivals Dundee United with a 2-1 win at Tannadice. The striker netted twice either side of a Dylan Levitt goal to secure the victory that moved Saints 10 points clear of the bottom-of-the table Tangerines.
