Rangers vs St Mirren: A Key Clash in Scottish Premiership

With the Old Firm both under the lights on Wednesday, the Scottish Premiership could fall back into a familiar shape by the time the night is done. If Rangers stretch their winning run to four, the table will look exactly as you would expect before derby week.

At Ibrox, Derek McInnes’ side welcome a St Mirren team who have started briskly. Across the country, Celtic head up the A9 to Perth, where a resurgent St Johnstone wait at McDiarmid Park. The warm-up for Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final between the Glasgow giants is anything but gentle.

Rangers building momentum – but St Mirren stand in the way

Rangers sit behind third-placed St Mirren only on goal difference, a quirk that underlines the Buddies’ sharp start rather than any early-season crisis at Ibrox. Craig McLeish has turned heads in Paisley with a more fluid, front-foot approach and collected the Premiership manager of the month award for August as proof of concept.

He is not surprised.

“There's an internal belief about what we're doing and the work we can do on the pitch. It could have been even better and we were close to it being even better,” McLeish said, convinced this is no short-lived burst.

Belief is one thing. Ibrox is another. St Mirren have already felt the full force of Rangers there this season, taken apart in the Premier Sports Cup. That afternoon, James Penrice announced himself in style, scoring one of five and laying on another in a lively debut that has set the tone for his start in Glasgow.

Penrice has not looked back. The left-back has started every game since, flanked by a settled central pairing of Olwethu Makhanya and Emmanuel Fernandez. Fernandez still has the odd wobble in him, but the continuity at the back has given Rangers a solid base and helped fuel their recent upturn.

Motherwell barely laid a glove on them at Ibrox on Saturday. Rangers created enough chances to win by more than one and will know they cannot afford such wastefulness once the derby arrives. That 1-0 win followed victories over Aberdeen and Falkirk, a run that has McInnes talking about confidence – and the demands that come with it.

“I don't think that ever lifts until you've got a trophy in your hand,” he admitted. “But I do think there's been a good feel about the place. What we have had in recent weeks is just small steps, encouragement, confidence levels.”

Those steps will be tested without Lawrence Shankland. Just as the striker found his range, injury halted his momentum. The timing is brutal. It also means Kevin Kelsy may be thrown straight into the fire rather than eased in gently.

History offers a warning. Rangers edged both league meetings with St Mirren last season by a single goal, but before that the Paisley side went four unbeaten in this fixture. McLeish’s players pushed Celtic hard at the weekend in Paisley, impressive between the boxes but blunt where it mattered most.

St Mirren will also be stripped of some bite. Paul Nsio, on loan from Rangers, is ineligible against his parent club. His absence could tilt the midfield battle, an area Rangers dominated in last month’s cup rout.

Celtic grind, reshuffle and head to a dangerous Perth

Celtic, for their part, keep winning. Domestically they are perfect, their league form a sharp contrast to the Champions League qualifying trauma they endured in Austria. The transfer window closed with a flurry of new faces, and the champions have quietly begun to stitch a new-look squad together.

They had to dig deep on Saturday night. Trailing early, they were far from their slick best yet still found a way, with Yang Hyun-jun driving the comeback and finishing the decisive move. His reward is a trip away from Glasgow, not another start. The winger has joined South Korea for the Asian Games, leaving Martin O’Neill with a selection puzzle.

Yang’s departure forces a reshuffle in the attacking line. O’Neill has been reluctant to move Camilo Duran away from the centre, and with good reason: three goals and two assists in three games as a central striker is the kind of form managers cling to. If Duran stays through the middle, on-loan Chelsea forward Shim Mheuka could be handed his first start out wide or through a tweaked front line.

Of the six late-window arrivals, only Mheuka and Oliver Sorensen have seen action from the bench so far. Sebastian Tounekti, more of a like-for-like wide option, may be the safer call to fill Yang’s role. Kasper Hogh and Kieran Tierney are back in contention after short injury lay-offs, adding more depth on the left flank and through the middle.

Celtic will need all of it in Perth. St Johnstone chase a third straight win at McDiarmid Park and, crucially, they want to play. O’Neill sees a kindred approach.

“They want to play football as well and they're committed,” he said of Saints. “There's a vitality about them which is very encouraging. Not dissimilar in many aspects to what Craig McLeish is doing at St Mirren.”

That vitality has numbers behind it. Three of Josh Fowler’s four goals this season have come on home turf, and local boy Taylor Steven has caught the eye with his delivery from the right, his crossing a key weapon in the win over Hibs.

At the back, Cheick Diabate and Zach Mitchell form a rugged, no-nonsense partnership. They attack everything in the air and throw themselves into blocks, yet Saints are still waiting on their first league clean sheet. Against Celtic, that edge between bravery and exposure will be razor thin.

Head coach Simo Valakari knows the scale of the task.

“We need to do our football things so well, then at the same time, we need to earn our luck, because against Celtic, if you want to beat them, you need to be a little bit lucky in some moments,” the Finn said.

He is not wrong. O’Neill’s last visit to Perth as a manager came a quarter of a century ago, but Celtic’s scars at McDiarmid Park are fresher. A home win for St Johnstone in April 2025 was one of the few bright spots in a grim, relegation-bound campaign.

Now, with both halves of Glasgow tuning up for a first derby of the season and the table beginning to take shape, the question is simple: who blinks before Sunday, and who walks into Ibrox with the kind of momentum that can tilt an entire season?