Friday 30 November 2018 12:06, UK
Rangers could move top of the Premiership with a victory over Hearts this weekend but Steven Gerrard admits he would rather be contesting a cup final at Hampden.
The Ibrox club will go top of the table if they win at Tynecastle on Sunday, with current league leaders Celtic facing Aberdeen in the Betfred Cup final later that afternoon.
Rangers have not led the league at this stage in the season since 2011 under Ally McCoist but Gerrard admits he is disappointed not be in with a chance of silverware this weekend.
"To be honest, I'd rather be in the cup final but it is what it is," said Gerrard. "It will be a tough game.
"Craig [Levein] has got the team flying high. They've had some injuries of late which has probably affected their form, but they've still had a fantastic season so far.
"We're under no illusions that it will be a tough game. It's an intense crowd which is close to the pitch.
"We're on the back of a European night and it's a really tough test for the players but we're capable of getting the result we want."
Rangers held on for a hard-fought 0-0 draw against Villarreal in the Europa League on Thursday after being controversially reduced to 10 men.
Daniel Candeias received a second booking shortly before the break and Gerrard was pleased with the reaction of his players to the sending off.
"I'm very proud of the players," he said. "They deserve a lot of credit for the efforts they put in over the 90 minutes in the circumstances.
"But we need to move on very quickly. We've set up a fantastic game in two weeks' time but we park that up and we switch our focus back to a very tough game at Tynecastle."
Gerrard has confirmed Rangers will assess the footage of Candeias' second yellow card before making a decision on whether to appeal.
"We will analyse the red card and then decide what, if anything we will do," he said.
