by Lindsay Herron

RANGERS have the chance to virtually assure their coronation as kings of Scotland for the second year running by winning Sunday's third Old Firm meeting of the season.

Of course, no-one on the staff or in the squad will say it publicly but if they can restore their lead to 10 points with a game in hand there will surely be no way back for Celtic.

Given that Rangers have only lost once in the SPL this season, it does not look likely that they would lose four times in their remaining 12 matches and that Celtic will win all 11 of theirs.

Stranger things have happened, but the fans know that this championship race could be over on Sunday if Walter Smith claims his 26^th derby win as manager, drawing level with the win records of Scot Symon and Jock Stein.

The thing is, the Rangers players are stepping into the unknown somewhat.

The incredible changes in the Celtic squad in the transfer window means that Tony Mowbray's line-up this weekend is liable to wildly different from the one he used on January 3 when Rangers grabbed a precious point in a 1-1 draw at Parkhead.

Outwith on-loan Tottenham star Robbie Keane, the players know very little about Jos Hooiveld, Edson Braafheid, Thomas Rogne, Ki Seung Yeung, Diomansy Kamara or Morten Rasmussen.

From that point of view it's a bit of a step into the unknown. Indeed, you could say it's the Glasgow Rangers v the Glasgow Strangers.

Of course, by the end of this week they will know all about them and how they play as Rangers make thorough preparations for a match they know can be colossal in their quest for the Championship.

As ever it will be interesting to see who Smith selects as he bids to stretch his unbeaten run against Celtic to five matches.

For me there are only a couple of outfield decisions to be made - whether Steven Whittaker plays in midfield or at right back and consequently if either Kyle Lafferty or Nacho Novo are given wide slots.

I fully expect to see Kevin Thomson and Lee McCulloch at the heart of midfield with Steve Davis on the right and Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd up top.

The manager may also have to change his goalkeeper after Allan McGregor was injured in an incident last weekend and will discuss this topic at Friday's press conference.

However, if Neil Alexander has to step into the breach you could hardly ask for a better understudy.

Clearly Celtic have attacking options but they are coming up against the best defence in Britain and the kicker for me is whether Tony Mowbray's back line can keep out Rangers?

Let battle commence.