Michael Stewart claims Rangers bench against Aberdeen was ‘weak’ as BBC pundit talks up Old Firm clash

Michael Stewart reckons Rangers’ bench against Aberdeen was the weakest he has seen in a long time.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side were forced to settle for a share of the spoils at Pittodrie after Lewis Ferguson’s late penalty cancelled out Ianis Hagi’s first-half opener.

Celtic’s 2-0 victory over Hibernian on Monday night coupled with the Light Blues slip-up closed the gap at the top of the Premiership to just four points.

That has heightened the importance of next month’s re-arranged Old Firm clash and BBC Sport Scotland pundit Stewart believes it will be difficult to separate the side’s if they are able to field their strongest starting line-ups.

Speaking on BBC Sportsound last night, he said: “From Rangers’ perspective, they’ve been on a tough run of fixtures since (Giovanni) van Bronckhorst has come in.

“Obviously just before he took over - or should he have gone into the changing room or not? that semi-final against Hibs.

“Then this run of the season they had Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Celtic to come - all away from home.

“They won at Easter Road, they won at Tynecastle, they’ve come away with a poor performance at Pittodrie but they are still unbeaten.

“So Rangers are in a good position, there’s no doubt about it, but I said this before the game and it wasn’t about the starting XI: That’s the weakest bench Rangers have had in a long time.

“You look at the starting XI, it was okay. It was a good team there’s no doubt about it, but not nearly as strong as Rangers have been in the past.

“A lot was made last night about the additions that Celtic have brought in, the players that they’ve got back from injury as well.

“So the game at Celtic Park in a couple of weeks is going to be very, very interesting because what team is put out is going to have a huge bearing on it.

“If the two teams put on their strongest XI’s then it’ll be very difficult to choose between them, but you can start to see there if you pick out a few of those important players from the Rangers team it’s clearly had a big impact on that performance tonight.”

Meanwhile, former Rangers captain David Weir has been appointed assistant technical director at English Premier League side Brighton.

Weir has stepped up from his role as the club’s pathway development manager to work alongside technical director Dan Ashworth at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.

Ashworth stated: “David’s football knowledge and experience is exception and to have his help, expertise and experience on a day-to-day basis will be a great benefit for the club.”