Rangers injury update: Three return with two doubts ahead of Livingston clash

The Rangers boss welcomes three players back into the fold, but injury concerns over key defenders threaten to disrupt preparations for Livingston’s visit.
Greece v Scotland - FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifier
Greece v Scotland - FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifier | Milos Bicanski/GettyImages

Rangers head coach Danny Rohl will have a different squad of players to choose from at the end of the current international break, with three players returning from injury and two players reporting back from their national teams with knocks.

In mid-break training photos fans were quick to spot the lesser sighted duo of Kieran Dowell and Rabbi Matondo back competing in full sessions.

Dowell featured heavily under the now-axed Russell Martin in the early stages of the season after returning from a loan at Birmingham City in the summer but has not featured since a 2-1 defeat away to Viktoria Plzen in the second leg of our UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie with the Czechs.

Welsh international Matondo, 25, has not featured for Rangers since an away draw with Dundee last January – he spent the second half of the season on loan at German 2. Bundesliga side Hannover 96 and last played in their 3-1 defeat away to Darmstadt 98 in mid-April.

He did make a cameo appearance off the bench for his national team against Nicolas Raskin’s Belgium in early June but has been absent with an injury since.

Also returning to the fold is Dujon Sterling, the 26-year-old defender was injured during Rangers UEFA Europa League second leg quarter final match with Athletic Bilbao last season – he has been back in training for several weeks now but is finally available again for selection and fully involved in the sessions.

Returning from the break with knocks are central defenders John Souttar – injured during the warm-up ahead of Scotland’s 4-2 win over Denmark which sealed their first qualification for a FIFA World Cup since the 1998 tournament in France and Derek Cornelius who was substituted off early during Canada’s 2-0 away win over Venezuela.

We are still awaiting confirmation on the severity of both players knocks with both Emmanuel Fernandez and Clinton Nsiala waiting in the wings for some rare first-team minutes should either, or both, not make Saturday's match with Livingston at Ibrox.

During the break Rangers have also welcomed a new member of the coaching setup in set-piece coach Scott Fry.

Fry, 47, joins from English League One side Lincoln City – who scored 30 of their 64 league goals last campaign from set plays.

A former goalkeeping coach, Fry has spent time with Wolverhampton Wanderers before joining The Imps in 2022.

Rangers are still in the hunt to add a domestic coach to their staff with an announcement imminent.

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