Philippe Clement confirms John Souttar Rangers injury and explains Todd Cantwell Celtic no-show

Philippe Clement has confirmed John Souttar picked up an injury and that was behind his substitution during Rangers' defeat to Celtic.

The centre-back was subbed for winger Ross McCausland at the break, with Dujon Sterling moving back to partner Ben Davies in the heart of defence, as the Gers trailed 2-1 and had just had John Lundstram sent off. There was a bit of confusion at the time and Sky Sports explained on air that it was their understanding the 27-year-old had NOT picked up a knock.

However, Clement has now confirmed the opposite and says he had to make the change due to an injury. Asked to explain it, he said: "That he had an injury so we were forced to do that change. No, we don't know yet."

Todd Cantwell missed out on the starting XI today with Tom Lawrence favoured and the former Norwich man didn't make it off the bench either.

Clement explained: “Todd is OK, he was fit, yes. But this was not the game to put him on when we are playing with 10 men.”

Meanwhile, the Belgian has bemoaned the same old issues with his side that have cost them dearly again.

He said: “For the first 20 minutes we were not aggressive enough. After that, the red card decided the game because after 20 minutes, we were coming into the game. We had enough chances in the first half and you need to take those moments. But we need to start better, that’s clear. We need to play 90 minutes like we played the last 70.

“That is definitely something for us to discuss because I expected much more in the first 20 minutes. They know they can do it, they have done it before. In parts of the game they did it, even with 10 men.

“We were then not out of the game but it was much more difficult. The positive side is that the team again showed resilience.

“They didn’t give up and it would have been easier to give up in an environment without fans, being behind and with ten men. At least we kept on going. We tried to create a second goal and stayed in it until the last second of the game. Nobody in the stadium was relaxed until the end but we couldn’t get it over the line.”