Friday 1 November 2019 11:14, UK
Jermain Defoe and Alfredo Morelos add the "firepower" Rangers need to beat Hearts in the Scottish League Cup semi-final on Sunday, according to manager Steven Gerrard.
Defoe and Morelos have scored 31 goals between them this season and provide each other competition to lead Gerrard's attack.
The Rangers boss believes his strikers could take the club one step further to the Scottish League Cup final this season after they narrowly lost 1-0 to Aberdeen in last year's semi-final.
Gerrard said: "We've got two centre forwards fit, firing and in excellent form, so we'll certainly go into this semi-final with a bit more firepower.
"The squad is improving. We do feel as though we are in a better place than 12 months ago, but we've got to go and do our talking on the pitch.
"We'll be set a tough challenge at the weekend. Hearts have good players, they'll come and compete and they'll fight and play to their strengths.
"We need to make sure we're up for that, compete and show our quality at the right times.
"But we are going into this game in a different place in terms of where the squad is at and from a belief and a confidence point of view."
Rangers go into the fixture as heavy favourites, especially after Hearts sacked manager Craig Levein on Thursday with the club sitting 11th in the Scottish Premiership.
Gerrard admits he was surprised by the timing of Levein's departure, but is not overlooking Hearts on Sunday with assistant manager Austin MacPhee in charge.
He said: "Probably surprised a little bit at the timing, on the eve of a semi-final.
"But I think if you look at Hearts' form it is probably not as much a surprise. I never like to see other managers lose their job, so I certainly feel for Craig.
"But he is still around in the background so I am sure he will have an input somewhere along the line.
"I don't think it will affect the game. We have to just focus on what's going on here and what we want to do, our preparation going into the game."
The 39-year-old has an almost full strength squad to choose from for the semi-final, boosted by the possible return of goalkeeper Allan McGregor.
The Gers No 1 was replaced by Wes Foderingham for the 4-0 Scottish Premiership win over Ross County on Wednesday night after sustaining a knock.
Gerrard added: "He is improving. He will do a light session today and we will see how he reacts to that, but there certainly has been an improvement in the last 48 hours.
"He is better than 50-50 at the moment so we hope in the coming days that he continues to improve but he has a good chance."
