Rangers are boosted by the returns of midfielder duo Jose Cifuentes and Kieran Dowell against Dundee amid an injury malaise at Ibrox.
Heading into the clash with Dundee, all the talk was once again focused on the physical conditioning of the club’s players with Nicolas Raskin and John Souttar the latest names to join a frustrating injury list.
Philippe Clement described the injury situation at the club as the biggest “puzzle” he’s encountered in management but at Dens Park the aforementioned duo appeared to buck the trend.
The returns of both Jose Cifuentes and Kieran Dowell from the bench against Dundee will please the Belgian manager who is eager to make the club’s injury woes a thing of the past.
It’s certainly a step in the right direction and now Rangers will be hoping they haven’t lost any more players in the 5-0 Scottish Premiership romp on the road amid major delays in Dundee.
Ecuadorean international Jose Cifuentes was a high-profile summer signing from LAFC but the midfielder has struggled to leave a strong impression on the side.
Suffering an injury during the last international break with Ecuador, Rangers will be hoping to see more from a player extensively linked with the Premier League before moving to Ibrox.
Kieran Dowell is another who arrived at Rangers in the summer, signing a pre-contract from Norwich City after coming through the youth ranks at Everton.
Once highly-rated in the English game, Rangers have saw some flashes of what the midfielder can offer but an injury has ruled Dowell out since the PSV Eindhoven qualifier back in August.
Having returned to the bench for the 2-1 victory over Hearts at Ibrox, the midfielder finally got back on the park against Dundee and let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come.
Jose Cifuentes replaced goalscorer Ryan Jack to get 15 minutes in the victory over Dundee, whilst Kieran Dowell came to replace Sam Lammers with five minutes to play.
Rangers’ extensive injury list now includes up to six names with John Souttar, Ben Davies, Nicolas Raskin, Tom Lawrence, Rabbi Matondo and Kemar Roofe all missing from the win over Dundee.
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