St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright relishing home clash with in-form Rangers
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has told his players their recent record at Ibrox will count for nothing when Rangers visit McDiarmid Park on Wednesday night.
Saints knocked Rangers out of the League Cup last season, abruptly ending their 11-game winning run under Mark Warburton, and drew in Govan in October in their first Ladbrokes Premiership meeting.
But Rangers have rediscovered the winning habit in recent weeks with four consecutive victories seeing them take a grip on second spot.
Wright said: "We have won and drawn at Ibrox recently but that means nothing, it's a different game. We are at home but both teams are in good form, so it's set up for a cracking game.
"They have improved in terms of results for the last month. They had a lot of possession against us, as they do with a lot of teams, but I think it was maybe just after that they dropped a few points.
"But you can't argue with what they have done in December, they have won their last four games."
Wright, whose side won at Kilmarnock on Friday, added: "All credit to Mark, he has got them back to winning ways and ultimately at Rangers that's what it is about, winning games.
"But we are on a good run, we have come back off another good performance, a difficult ground to go to and win and we will go into the game with a fair degree of confidence but ultimately total respect for the opposition."
St Johnstone midfielder Murray Davidson is suspended, but Steven MacLean returns after sitting out the victory at Kilmarnock because of the effects of the artificial pitch.
Michael Coulson (calf) and Ally Gilchrist (groin) remain out.
Rangers are sweating on the fitness of skipper Lee Wallace after he limped through the final 10 minutes of Saturday's win over Inverness.
Boss Warburton confirmed the defender had suffered a knock in the 1-0 Ibrox victory but is hoping his captain will pull through in time.
Jordan Rossiter (calf) and Niko Kranjcar (knee) remain on the sidelines.
Warburton has warned his Rangers players not to risk slipping up at St Johnstone by focusing too much on their Hogmanay duel with Celtic on Saturday.
The Englishman said: "We can't do that.
"You could win the Old Firm game but lose to St Johnstone. I understand (the excitement levels that surround the Celtic match) and I'm not understating that in any shape or form.
"But it's about the three points and the next game against St Johnstone - it has to be that way.
"So we can't look ahead. As soon as Wednesday is out of the way, then we will look ahead to the weekend."
Source: PAR
