Rangers and Hearts both in urgent need of winning return

Considering that Rangers are the defending champions and Hearts are title contenders, the most striking absence in the recent exploits of the two sides who meet at Ibrox today has been a winning mentality. Between them, they could muster only three victories in a combined total of 17 games - Rangers have won one in 11, Hearts two from six - and while Alex McLeish's players are responsible for most of those setbacks, the Tynecastle side can hardly draw hope from their form on the road.

If a home victory is a distant memory for Rangers - they claimed Motherwell's scalp at Ibrox on Oct 22 - Hearts have to reach even further into the past to recollect reward in an away fixture. It was, in fact, back on Sept 11 that they looted someone else's backyard, with a 4-1 win over Livingston at Almondvale.

If ever a game looked like a draw in prospect, it is this contest. Yet both sides know they have to win, or expose themselves to renewed accusations that their momentum has stalled.

Rangers put an end to a hideous sequence of results when they held on through a nervous finish to beat Kilmarnock at Rugby Park last Sunday, and their presence in the last 16 of the Champions League has reminded everyone at the club that the spring offers promise of glamour, even if McLeish retorted wryly, when asked if yesterday's European draw was good: "Well, I think Villareal will be pleased."

Rangers' long-term casualties are trickling back on to the training field and Nacho Novo will feature again today, having been restored to the squad against Kilmarnock, but this game has come too soon for Dado Prso. Fernando Ricksen is suspended and Alan Hutton is doubtful, leaving McLeish a gap to fill at full-back.

Hearts, in contrast, will probably look much like their early-season selves with the return of Roman Bednar - who scored the only goal of the game when the teams met at Tynecastle on Sept 24 - and his attacking partner, Edgaras Jankauskas, although Takis Fyssas is out of action at left-back.

Graham Rix could use an invigorating performance to restore the faith of Hearts' fans after his players were jeered off the field following last week's goalless draw at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, but he took time to praise McLeish for his bearing during a difficult time. "He's been under severe pressure over the past few weeks and he's handled himself with great dignity, but I want to go there tomorrow and beat them. If I have my best 11 out there, I'm confident we can do it."

A Hearts win would take them back level on points with Celtic, ahead of the leaders' visit to Inverness tomorrow. A bristling battalion of TV cameras and telephoto lenses were in evidence at Celtic's Barrowfield training ground when a diffident figure joined first-team squad training for the first time. According to the Parkhead manager, the 17-year-old Paul Caddis will be a lad to watch.

A fellow by the name of Keane, from down Manchester way, was also present, but when Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager, was asked if his youngsters were awestruck by the presence of the former Old Trafford captain, he replied: "No, they don't idolise him - they appreciate him. Footballers love having good players around them. It's great. I knew when I was playing that when great players came along it made my team better - and if my team's getting better, I've got more chance of winning things. It's the same here."

Keane, of course, is ineligible to play tomorrow, although it appears he will be in the stand for his first taste of the most northerly outpost of the Scottish Premier League. Caley Thistle's Liam Keogh will sit close by, as the only absentee from a strong Highland squad.

Elsewhere, managers under pressure include Gordon Chisholm, whose Dundee United are at home to Dunfermline Athletic, and Aberdeen's Jimmy Calderwood, who makes the journey to Livingston. Third-placed Hibs have lively visitors in Motherwell, while Falkirk must beware of Kilmarnock, who are in good shape despite last week's defeat to Rangers.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk