Rangers vs St. Johnstone preview: Sickness bug affects Rangers squad

Rangers host St. Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, on Saturday 24 October 2026. Kick-off in Matchweek 10 is at 3pm and the referee is Chris Graham.

Rangers are second in the table with 20 points from nine games (six wins, two draws, one defeat), having scored 13 goals and conceded seven. St. Johnstone are fifth with 12 points from nine (three wins, three draws, three defeats), with 11 goals scored and 11 conceded. Rangers are eight points ahead of the visitors.

Recent form

Rangers have won five and drawn one of their last six matches, scoring 10 goals and conceding four. Their most recent result was a 2-2 draw away to Dundee on 17 October, after a 3-1 home win over Kilmarnock on 10 October. They won 1-0 away to Celtic on 20 September. In their last five league matches Rangers have won four and drawn one.

St. Johnstone have won two, drawn three and lost one of their last six, scoring six goals and conceding five. They won 1-0 away to Aberdeen on 11 October and drew 1-1 at home to Dundee United on 17 October. Their only defeat in that run was 1-0 at home to Celtic on 9 September. In their last five league matches they have won two, drawn two and lost one.

Team	Last six (oldest first)
Rangers	WWWWWD WWWWWD
St. Johnstone	DWLDWD DWLDWD

Rangers: last six results

Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
Sat 17 Oct	Away	Dundee	2-2	D
Sat 10 Oct	Home	Kilmarnock	3-1	W
Sun 20 Sep	Away	Celtic	1-0	W
Wed 9 Sep	Home	St. Mirren	1-0	W
Sat 5 Sep	Home	Motherwell	1-0	W
Wed 2 Sep	Away	Falkirk	2-1	W

St. Johnstone: last six results

Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
Sat 17 Oct	Home	Dundee United	1-1	D
Sun 11 Oct	Away	Aberdeen	1-0	W
Sat 19 Sep	Home	Falkirk	1-1	D
Wed 9 Sep	Home	Celtic	0-1	L
Sun 6 Sep	Home	Hibernian	2-1	W
Wed 2 Sep	Away	Dundee	1-1	D

What the managers said

Derek McInnes (Rangers)

The Rangers manager said illness has affected his squad in the build-up to the game.

“There’s a bit of a bug going about.”

“There’s been half a dozen players or so.”

“Even last night I got a call from the doctor about a key player as well.”

McInnes also spoke about preparing for the match and about Tuur Rommens.

“We’re trying to minimise that and work towards tactically being the best we can coming into the game on Saturday and bringing a good performance.”

“Having those extra training days of course helps you with that, but it doesn’t guarantee performance.”

“Unfortunately for us, Tuur Rommens, who the game was kind of for, amongst others, but particularly Tuur, was one of the ones who had the bug, and we never managed to get him on the pitch, although he’s trained since then, yesterday and today.”

Simo Valakari (St. Johnstone)

The St. Johnstone manager spoke about how his side will approach the trip to Ibrox.

“Rangers will want an opportunity to get back to winning ways, scoring goals and producing a positive performance after dropping some points,”

“We need to make them work for everything they get.”

“This game will be decided in both boxes.”

“It’s a big challenge but a game we really want to play.”

“Our aim is to ask the questions of them and make them a little bit uncomfortable with what’s happening on the field.”

Team news and predicted line-ups

Rangers are without José Cifuentes (knee injury), Youssef Chermiti (cruciate ligament tear), Daisuke Yokota (groin surgery), Lawrence Shankland (hamstring injury) and John Souttar (unknown injury). A sickness bug has also affected around half a dozen players, and McInnes said maybe only one or two regular starters are affected. He received a call from the doctor on Thursday night about a key player and hopes that player is better by Saturday. Tuur Rommens missed the Dundee bounce game through illness and has trained on Wednesday and Thursday. No team news has been given for St. Johnstone.

Rangers predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Ivor Pandur, Dujon Sterling, Emmanuel Fernandez, Olwethu Makhanya, James Penrice, Nicolas Raskin, Dan Neil, Badredine Bouanani, Min-su Kim, Djeidi Gassama, Ryan Naderi

St. Johnstone predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Toby Steward, Liam Smith, Danny Finlayson, C. Diabate, Enes Alic, Reece McAlear, J. Holt, Sam Stanton, Joel Cotterill, Taylor Steven, Josh Fowler

Where Rangers can hurt St. Johnstone

ANALYSIS: Rangers have scored in each of their last six matches, 10 goals in total, and St. Johnstone have conceded in five of their last six. The visitors have kept one clean sheet in that run, the 1-0 win at Aberdeen on 11 October.

Set pieces are another area where the figures favour Rangers. Across their last six matches they have won 42 corners and conceded 24, including a 12-0 corner count against St. Mirren on 9 September. St. Johnstone have won 18 corners and conceded 48 in their last six, with 13 conceded at Aberdeen and 11 at home to Celtic.

Rangers have also scored 13 league goals and conceded seven in nine games, a goal difference of +6 against St. Johnstone’s level record of 11 scored and 11 conceded.

Where St. Johnstone can hurt Rangers

ANALYSIS: Rangers conceded twice in the 2-2 draw at Dundee on 17 October, the most they have conceded in any of their last six matches. They have conceded in three of those six, and the sickness bug and five injury absences limit the squad McInnes can select.

St. Johnstone are unbeaten in their last three matches (a 1-1 draw with Falkirk, a 1-0 win at Aberdeen and a 1-1 draw with Dundee United) and have won two and drawn two of their last five league games. Valakari said “This game will be decided in both boxes”, and Rangers have conceded seven goals in nine league matches.

How to watch

Rangers vs St. Johnstone is not shown live on UK television: Saturday 3pm kick-offs fall in the UK broadcast blackout.

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