STEVEN GERRARD is confident Rangers are fighting fit and raring to go for the title run-in after their winter training camp in Tenerife.
The Light Blues rounded off the first half of the campaign on a high note as they produced a dominant display to clinch a deserved Old Firm win at Ibrox.
Victory over Celtic moved Rangers level on points with Brendan Rodgers’ side at the top of the table as they hauled themselves into title contention this term.
Now Gerrard has used the top flight shutdown to prepare his side for a potentially historic few months as the Gers target Premiership glory and Scottish Cup success in his first campaign in the dugout.
Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis joined with the squad as they were put through their paces during a week-long stint in Costa Adeje.
Both could make their debuts when Rangers return to competitive action in the fourth round cup clash with League Two Cowdenbeath on Friday night.
And boss Gerrard is pleased with how his side are shaping up after getting back to business in the Spanish sunshine over the last week.
He told RangersTV: “First and foremost we’ve obviously signed a couple of new faces so I think in terms of integrating them and for them to get comfortable, I think it’s very important.
“It’s also been a good chance for us all to reset and regroup and analyse the first six months of the season and really look forward to where we need to improve and how we are going to grow more and also set our sights firmly on our targets.
"So it’s been a very important week and the team spirit is very good, and I think looking back on it in a few days’ time it will be really positive.
“I think physically and mentally the team and the squad certainly needed the break – and we did as a staff as well because it had been non-stop since June 15 when we came back.
“38 games in total, it has almost been like a full season crammed into six months, so we were all running on empty in December and I think that showed in some of our results and performances.
“We conceded a couple of late goals and, without blaming anything, you do look at the amount of games and the tiredness and mental fatigue and maybe that was the case.
“So the timing was perfect. We gave the players a week off to have family time and really recover, and this week has been really about building them back up and really pushing them physically again to get that base for the second half of the season.”
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