Can Rangers beat Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday? It's highly unlikely! But here are five things the Ibrox club could try

The Ibrox club, meanwhile, have struggled in the Ladbrokes Premiership and are currently without a permanent manager. Caretaker Graeme Murty will be in the dugout.

Can Rangers administer Celtic’s first defeat in 35 outings? It is highly unlikely. But here chief football writer Matthew Lindsay looks at five things they could try to halt their losing run.

Read more: Graeme Murty: I have a clear understanding about how Rangers will beat Celtic

PLAY LEE HODSON AT RIGHT BACK

James Tavernier’s abilities as a player going forward are not now and have never been in doubt. His searing pace and eye for goal are impressive. Indeed, the right back has won games for Rangers single-handedly since arriving in Glasgow in the summer of 2015. But defensively the Englishman can, to put it mildly, often be found wanting.

The 25-year-old’s limitations at the back were responsible for his team losing 2-0 to Hearts at Tynecastle back in November. His poor performance in the capital that evening led to Mark Warburton, the then manager, dropping him altogether and then selecting Lee Hodson ahead of him.

It was no coincidence when the Glasgow club’s form picked up with Hodson at right back and Tavernier in midfield. Consecutive wins over Aberdeen, Hearts, Hamilton and Inverness Caledonian Thistle were duly recorded and they moved seven points clear in second place.

Since then, however, both Warburton, before he departed last month, and Murty have preferred Tavernier to Hodson at right back. Rangers have failed to win six of the eight league games they have been involved in since and have fallen six points behind Aberdeen in the league.

Celtic will pose a formidable threat down the left flank with both Kieran Tierney and Scott Sinclair set to be given the nod by Brendan Rodgers at Parkhead on Sunday. Hodson, a Northern Ireland internationalist, will have a better chance of dealing with the left back and winger than Tavernier.

The latter may have set up Kenny Miller for the opening goal against Celtic at Ibrox on Hogmanay. But Rangers will spend long periods of the game this weekend defending and the former is better equipped to combat that kind of challenge.

CONVERT THEIR CHANCES

Rangers were, no two ways about it, routed on the last occasion they travelled across the city to play Celtic back in September. But would things have been any different if, with the score delicately balanced at 2-1, Barrie McKay had netted when he had an opportunity to score?

Rangers were well beaten at home on Hogmanay too. They were lucky their opponents weren’t as sharp as they can be up front. Their own finishing, though, wasn’t quite up to scratch. They had chances to level at 2-1 and hit the woodwork.

The Ibrox club’s players and supporters can have no complaints about the three defeats they have suffered at the hands of their Parkhead rivals this term. But in both of the league games they were involved in their efforts to salvage something from the 90 minutes were hampered by their lack of ruthlessness up front.

Read more: Graeme Murty: I have a clear understanding about how Rangers will beat Celtic

Graeme Murty will be hoping all of the players in his team, not just his strikers, have their shooting boots on. Their confidence will certainly be high in the final third after their 6-0 drubbing of Hamilton in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final at the weekend.

GO DIRECT

The failings of the Rangers defence, of the centre backs in particular, have been highlighted repeatedly this season. But how much has Mark Warburton’s stubborn insistence that his team build play patiently from the back been to blame for the needless goals which his rearguard conceded?

It has been obvious for some time that the players are either uncomfortable with what is a very risky game plan – and one which opposition teams have identified and capitalised on - or incapable of executing what is being demanded of them.

Former manager Warburton briefly abandoned his idealistic approach to matches after the 2-0 loss which his side suffered to Hearts at Tynecastle back in November and opted for a more direct approach. His team’s form picked up immediately as a result.

Yet, he reverted to his old ways after that and Rangers’ season unravelled. Murty has shaken things up since taking over on a temporary basis. Allowing his charges to shell the ball upfield when they are under pressure, which they will be for long periods, will reduce the likelihood of them gifting their hosts soft goals. He will need to select somebody up top who can hold the ball up.

Rangers certainly fared well passing the ball out of defence in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden last year. But they were a different team then – and Celtic were not the force they are now.

DO BETTER AT SET PIECES

Rangers conceded a goal to Celtic at a corner in the 5-1 defeat at Parkhead in September and then did the same thing in the 2-1 loss to their city rivals at Ibrox on Hogmanay. On both occasions Moussa Dembele netted. They must do far better at set pieces to stop their hosts recording their fourth victory over them this term.

In addition, they must make the most of their own free-kicks and corners in their opponents' half. St. Mirren scored from a well-worked free-kick at Celtic Park on Sunday and very nearly added to their tally at another.

Read more: Graeme Murty: I have a clear understanding about how Rangers will beat Celtic

WIN THE MIDFIELD BATTLE

Despite Scott Brown’s best efforts to psych out his opposite number Andy Halliday before kick-off, Rangers bossed the midfield in their Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic at Hampden in April.

That is a department, though, where they have been second best by some distance in all three meetings with Brendan Rodgers’s side this term. Brown has been transformed by the extended break from the game he enjoyed in the summer. At times, in the Betfred Cup semi-final in October especially, he has been unplayable.

But the arrival of Emerson Hyndman from Bournemouth and Jon Toral from Arsenal has strengthened Rangers in this key area. Will the American and the Spaniard fare any better than their team mates if selected? They certainly can’t do any worse.