Ibrox View: Rangers receive boost as title competitor confirms double injury blow ahead of SPFL fixtures

Rangers‘ title competition may now just be narrowed down to Hearts, as Martin O’Neill’s Celtic have suffered a double injury setback with key players Alistair Johnson and Jota.

The Bears are still well in the hunt for the Scottish Premiership, and will take whatever advantage that they can get at this point.

Ahead of Saturday’s return to league action for Scottish sides, the table sees Hearts three points in front of Gers, with Celtic in third, further behind the league leaders by five points.

Danny Rohl‘s side has just a two-point gap to the Hoops at this point, but as O’Neill has now confirmed, both of his star players, Johnson and Jota, have suffered setbacks in their return to fitness.

Rangers are hoping to win the league and complete a dramatic comeback from the days of Russell Martin, and Gers fans are fully aware of the damage Johnson and Jota can cause when fit.

What has Martin O’Neill said about Jota and Alistair Johnson?

Rangers host Dundee United at Ibrox on Saturday, and if Hearts were to slip up and lose in their away match to Livingston, they could find themselves top of the table by the end of this weekend.

Celtic travel to Dens Park to face Dundee FC on Sunday, with their injury list now up to eight players in total.

Speaking ahead of Celtic’s game against Dundee FC, O’Neill confirmed that Johnson, who was close to a return, has suffered a setback, while Jota, though, was making good progress, will not return until pre-season.

The Celtic boss said, as quoted by the Herald Scotland: “Alistair [Johnston] has had a wee bit of a setback. He went away with the Canadian national side, was doing some running and had a bit of a setback on his final day of training, which was really disconcerting for us.

“He’s [Jota] been out for a long time. In his rehab, he’s had a couple of setbacks. Just when he thinks he’s going great, he gets a bit of a setback; it’s just the length of time that you’re out. I would hope that whoever is going to be in charge of the football club would have Jota ready for pre-season.”

O’Neill may now be forced to use teenage right-back Colby Donanvan, which is far from ideal for Celtic, but a slight plus for Rangers, too.

It’s small margins at this stage of the season, and any slip-up will matter, and that’s the same with injuries.

What is Rangers’ injury list looking like?

Rohl confirmed that Rangers have a “bigger issue” with one player, which sounded like a big blow for someone who is of importance to the first team.

Some rumours online have suggested a problem with Tuur Rommens and Mohamed Diomande, but that is just fan speculation as of right now.

Andreas Skov Olsen had been ill during the international break, but the on-loan winger has returned to training and is in position for a place in the matchday squad at Ibrox this weekend.

Derek Cornelius has returned from his long-term layoff, but it remains to be seen whether he can make up with Rohl after an assumed fallout.

Young midfielder Bailey Rice is still out with a knee problem, but on the whole, Gers’ injury picture looks better than Celtic’s.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Govan.