When all is said and done, Derek McInnes has a cup semi final to win at Hampden. His Rangers side will face Aberdeen in his second side against one of his old charges as Rangers boss.

He secured all 3 points on Rangers’ visit to Aberdeen in August, a penalty from captain Lawrence Shankland sealing the deal.

But this is different. A one-off cup match against the very side Philippe Clement secured Rangers’ last piece of silverware against in 2023.

So what will McInnes do with the team?

We have seen a mixture of sane XI (St Johnstone) v not so sane (Dundee and Hearts) so we are hoping our prediction is back to the sanity.

In goal, naturally, Pandur. He’s got the shirt nailed down and will always start.

Defence:

Sterling didn’t have the best v Hearts, but he won’t be dropped. Inside him, we postulated that Olwethu Makhanya could lose his place purely for criticising Rangers’ character on Wednesday. We hope McInnes won’t be that petty. Next to him, yes, we cannot see the manager resting Fernandez. He’s his golden boy these days. Penrice? Why do we randomly see Tuur Rommens starting at LB? Probably not…

Midfield

Midfield won’t change. Neil and Raskin. Neil being on media duties assures his place anyway, not that he was getting dropped. He is the captain now, whether anyone else agrees.

Front four.

We’d be stunned if Djeidi Gassama starts again, with Badredine Bouanani surely taking that spot. Minsu will be the other side, and Naderi will be behind Kevin Kelsy.

So your Ibrox Noise XI, we suspect:

(4-4-2):

Pandur; Sterling, Fernandez, Makhanya, Penrice; Neil, Raskin; Bouanani, Minsu; Naderi, Kelsy.

It’s probably more of a 4231 because Minsu isn’t really a LW. Which is something Rangers painfully lack.

Hard to configure what the formation actually is these days. 4-3-3? 4-4-2? 4-2-3-1?

It evolves a bit. We’ve even seen 3-5-2.

But that’s your predicted Rangers XI to face the Dons tomorrow.