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Ross McCrorie confident Rangers can beat Old Firm rivals Celtic

Ross McCrorie in action for Rangers
Image: Ross McCrorie is relishing the clash with Celtic at Ibrox on Saturday

Rangers midfielder Ross McCrorie says "injuries are not an excuse" ahead of their match against Scottish Premiership rivals Celtic.

Centre-back Connor Goldson is a "big doubt" for Saturday's Ibrox derby after limping off during the Boxing Day draw with Hibernian.

Gareth McAuley is also facing a battle to be fit along with key attacking midfielders Ryan Kent and Scott Arfield, while left-back Borna Barisic is out along with long-term absentees Graham Dorrans and Jamie Murphy.

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Rangers have not beaten Celtic in the last 12 meetings but McCrorie was defiant Steven Gerrard's squad are good enough to beat Celtic.

McCrorie said: "The injuries aren't an excuse. We've got a good enough squad and good enough players here to go put on a performance against Celtic, so we will just see what happens at the weekend.

Rangers vs Celtic
Rangers vs Celtic

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"We're just going to play our own game and focus on ourselves. Obviously we'll do our analysis on Celtic but after that we'll see what happens."

Rangers have dropped points against Aberdeen and Hibs at home since going top of the Premiership at the beginning of the month.

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Gerrard admitted the derby was a "must-win" game regardless of the league table, which sees Celtic three points clear with a game in hand.

"Every game is must-win," McCrorie said. "We're playing for Rangers and the pressure is always on. We need to win every time we pull on that blue jersey, especially if we're going to challenge for the title."

Rangers have now only scored two goals in their last four home games and their struggles in front of goal came back to bite them when Darren McGregor earned Hibs a 1-1 draw.

Steven Gerrard says his players have to dust themselves down quickly for the match against Celtic
Image: Gerrard says his players have to dust themselves down quickly for the match against Celtic following late 1-1 draw against Hibernian

McCrorie added: "We're very disappointed, especially with losing a goal in the last five minutes.

"It just feels like we've shot ourselves in the foot after not taking our chances. We need to get that cutting edge back or we're going to have problems.

"We need to clean up the wee details if we're going to stop conceding these silly goals."

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