Steven Gerrard has ruled out Joe Aribo for up to six months after Record-breaking Rangers wrote themselves into the history books with a seventh consecutive clean sheet in a 4-0 win over Dundee United.
But the result came at a cost for Steven Gerrard as he watched four of his players suffer injuries.
The Light Blues became the first Scottish side to open a season with seven straight shut-outs as they maintained their three-point lead at the top of the table.
Player of the month for August Ryan Kent opened the scoring early before skipper James Tavernier sealed victory on his 250th appearance for the club.
Kemar Roofe and Scott Arfield rounded off the scoring midway through the second half but Gerrard will be left sweating after Leon Balogun, Ryan Jack, Brandon Barker and Alfredo Morelos all had to be replaced.
The Ibrox casualty concerns began in midweek with confirmation Joe Aribo could miss a further six weeks with an ankle injury that has already kept him out for a month.
But the game had not even kicked off when Gerrard had more to worry about.
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard said: “I’ve been really clear that we need to add so I think we maybe need to try to accelerate that.
“Going off what I have just seen in the treatment room, there is definitely going to be two, if not three, missing for a couple of weeks. We need to add pretty quickly so that our numbers are OK.
“Leon felt tightness in his quad. Hopefully we’ve caught that one early. We could have risked that one but there was no need as we had Fil Helander ready to come in.
“Ryan has a calf problem, which we’ll need to scan to see the extent of that. Brandon has done a hamstring, which is normally at least a couple of weeks.
“And Morelos has got a gash on his knee. From the side, I was worried because it looked a lot worse than a gash. He’s a lucky boy. The doctor is confident if we manage it right over the next few days we might have a chance for Thursday.
“I don’t want to make headlines and say a kid should have got this or that. don’t want to be that type of manager. But I’d be very interested to see what the decision would’ve been from the officials had the shoe been on the other foot and Alfredo had made that tackle.”
