Derek McInnes urges Rangers to take Celtic initiative amid transfer update and Premier Sports Cup draw news

There will be no Celtic supporters in the stadium and McInnes wants his players to harness the energy of the supporters in the first of two derbies in the space of a week.

The anxiety from Rangers fans, which has been prevalent in some games in Ibrox, resurfaced on Wednesday night as the home side struggled in the second half of the Premiership clash against St Mirren before the pressure was relieved with a late Bojan Miovski winner.

McInnes hopes the momentum of a late victory can help in his quest to win his maiden Old Firm match as a manager and is aware of the importance of the home fans.

“I think we’ve got to bring the crowd with us,” said McInnes “You’re not going to play Celtic and dominate the game for 90 minutes. We’ll have spells, they’ll have spells, it’s just the way it is.

“I think it’s important that we tap into having that 50,000 behind us and be behind the players, support them, have their backs, not be on their backs and really make it as tough for Celtic as possible.

“We’ve got our part to play in that and I felt that if we can capitalise on good play and good opportunities, which we didn’t do last night and we didn’t do against Motherwell (also won 1-0) obviously, if we can get ourselves in front, give the crowd something to get behind, then I think the strength of our club can be shown.

“I think if the 50,000 can be utilised and we can have the strength of performance in the team that will help the team, it will be difficult to stop.

“There’s been a lot of frustration over a period of time at the club and it’s up to us to try and show that we’re going to deliver something a bit different. We recognise Celtic are a good team who have been the main title winners and the team that’s picked up more trophies than any other club in recent years.

“We just want to make sure that we give ourselves a chance to be relevant domestically again in terms of winning trophies, and Sunday gives us a chance to take a step towards that.”

McInnes did not report any fresh injuries from the midweek clash with St Mirren and addressed reports that out-of-favour defender John Souttar is closing i on a move to Greek side Aris Thessaloniki.

“I spoke to John this morning, he trained,” said McInnes. “There’s a bit of interest in him from one or two clubs. One club maybe a bit further down the line than the other but I think it’s something that could develop. I don’t think it’s at that stage yet but maybe something will happen over the next two or three days.”

Meanwhile, the SPFL have confirmed that the draw for the Premier Sports Cup semi-final will take place after the match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox, with the ties to be played on October 31 and November 1.