RANGERS manager Walter Smith is ready to field his strongest side for tomorrow's Scottish Premier Division showdown against Aberdeen at Ibrox despite the fact that five of his players are one yellow card away from missing the Scottish Cup final, against Hearts on May 18th.
Victory over Aberdeen in tomorrow's televised game will guarantee an eighth successive championship for Rangers and take them to within one of the record set by Jock Stein's Celtic between 1966-1974.
Paul Gascoigne, Richard Gough, John Brown, Gordan Petric and Alex Cleland are the players in danger of missing the cup final.
But Smith has labelled the Aberdeen match as his side's biggest game of the season and made it clear this will be reflected in his line-up.
"The Scottish Cup final will have no consequence on the Rangers team selection on Sunday and have no consequence on the way we play," said Smith. "The most important game at any point in any season is the one that can win you the championship."
"Scottish Cup finals and things like that are icing on the cake. As far as I am concerned, the league championship is first and foremost the trophy we want to win."
Smith expects to have Gordon Durie available after the striker returned from Scotland B action this midweek with a slight hamstring injury. Petric and Cleland are added to the squad.
It could be quite an afternoon for £4.3 million club record buy Gascoigne, who landed his 14th domestic booking of the season in last week's 3-1 win at Motherwell. Gascoigne has been booked three times in games against Aberdeen this season but is now within touching distance of his first championship winners' medal in a chequered career.
Later tomorrow he could land the Player of the Year award from his fellow professionals.
The Scottish Premier Division championship trophy will be wrapped up in red, blue and white ribbons and dispatched to Ibrox stadium tomorrow
Aberdeen, with former Celtic player Roy Aitken in charge, will do their best to halt the title party with Billy Dodds and Gary Smith likely to be back as Duncan Shearer sits out through suspension.
