Philippe Clement has moved to explain his starting line-up for tonight's crucial Premiership match with Aberdeen.

Rangers' manager explained that on-form winger Vaclav Cerny has a 'small' injury while Jefte was dropped to 'keep him fresh'.

The Belgian goes into the match at Pittodrie knowing defeat would see his side drop nine points behind a Dons side rejuvenated under new boss Jimmy Thelin.

And he will now have to claim the win without two of this season's stand-outs in the starting line-up.

He told Rangers TV: "He has a small injury, nothing very serious. But the medical staff said he was not able to play today. That it was not possible. They tried everything to get him fit but it was a really short time after the game towards this game.

"So yeah, unluckily it's not possible. He's been very important in the last four games with five goals but also given a lot of effort for the team. But it's normal things. He played with the national team also. He played a lot of games. So it's normal that they get a niggle in between and they will miss some things. But of course you don't want it in a game of this magnitude.

"On Jefte, he played a lot of games and you saw the last game he started to get more tired. So we need to protect him in that way also. He never played so many minutes in a team before. He's still young. We need to build his body in that way and he's fresh to come in. And Nana played a good game again in the weekend and every time he played until now it was good. On the right side, central or on the left side. So I want to see that on the left side today and then we can see if one moment we put Jefte in or not."