Here come the teams into the Perthshire sunshine...

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has been telling Sky Sports that he is going for two up front in an attempt to be "positive" and he had made changes to freshen up his side.

Will it work for the Perth side?

We're a few minutes away from kick-off at McDiarmid Park, where Rangers have a chance to put some pressure on Celtic ahead of the champions starting later this afternoon against Kilmarnock.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard tells Sky Sports: "We've put out a really bold, aggressive team selection here today. We'll have a lot of fans here and it's important we put on a performance.

"We're looking for that bit of freshness. It's what we've been looking for since we returned from Christmas break.

"St Johnstone are a team in form. We expect a good challenge."

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St Johnstone chairman Steve Brown admits his club are posting heavy losses with high wage bills and are in "danger of being hypocrites" after speaking in the past about living within their means.

"I know we get a hard time over the fact our crowds aren't too high," he tells BBC Sportsound. "You'd rather spend more time praising the individuals who do go. You look at the population in Perth and I think we do okay compared with other cities.

"If we're being honest with ourselves, in the eight years we've been successful on the park and remained financially sound. The thing we've let ourselves down with is growing the fanbase, but it is a big challenge for us - and for other clubs.

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"Wage inflation down south puts them up north of the border too. The wages maybe don't relate to the skill level of the player. It's too high at the moment.

"At the moment, we've overegged it - our wage bill is sixth or seventh in the league and, we talk about the crowd, it's far too high.

"Unfortunately, we just haven't performed and that leaves a huge financial gap and concerns. We have got reserves, so unfortunately this year we will be hitting them in a big way and posting heavy losses, which is not good. We're in danger of being hypocrites because we have been outspoken in living within your means, and this year we're not going to do that, which is disappointing to say the least."

In-form St Johnstone have gone five games without defeat, Tommy Wright's side winning three of them.

Having hit an inconsistent patch since the winter break, Rangers should arrive on a high after coming from two-goals down to beat Braga in Thursday's Europa League last-32 first leg.

But they lost their last away game, 2-1 to Kilmarnock.

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Billy Dodds
Former Scotland striker on Sportsound

Rangers are unbeaten in five games against St Johnstone since a shock 3-1 loss at Ibrox in December 2017 and won 4-0 at McDiarmid Park in the only meeting of the sides this season - in September.

Indeed, the Glasgow side have won five in a row in Perth and are unbeaten in 10 trips to McDiarmid Park and you can Stefan Bienkowski's analysis of Rangers' dominance below.

Ryan Stevenson
Former St Johnstone midfielder

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright makes three changes from their 1-1 draw away to Ross County last weekend.

Full-backs Callum Booth and Anthony Ralston come into the team along with forward Callum Hendry also starts.

Liam Gordon, Scott Tanser and Chris Kane all drop to the bench.

Midfielder Liam Craig returns to the squad but does not make the starting line-up.

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Rangers manager Steven Gerrard makes three changes from Thursday's Europa League win over Braga.

Borna Barisic was injured in the midweek win and drops out, with Andy Halliday getting another start at left-back.

Gerrard also freshens up the midfield, with Steven Davis dropping to the bench and Glen Kamara missing out. In come Joe Aribo, who scored a fine solo goal as a midweek substitute, and Ryan Jack, who was suspended for the clash with the Portuguese.

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Rangers have slipped 10 points behind Celtic as they look to deny their city rivals a ninth consecutive league title.

Steven Gerrard's assistant manager, Gary McAllister, is quoted in today's newspapers rejecting the suggestion that their dip in form was the result of a dressing-room bust-up during the winter break.

Rangers do have a game in hand and still believe they can make up the ground. Do we still have a live title race? Thumbs up below for "yes", thumbs down for "no".

Coverage has already started on BBC Radio Scotland, with former Rangers and St Johnstone striker Billy Dodds and former Saints midfielder Ryan Stevenson the pundits from McDiarmid Park. Commentary is from Liam McLeod.

Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner and Livingston midfielder Marvin Bartley are the pundits at Celtic Park, with the action described by John Barnes.

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St Johnstone: Clark, Ralston, Booth, Kerr, McCart, Wright, Wotherspoon, Butcher, McCann, Hendry, May.

Substitutes: Parish, Tanser, Gordon, Craig, Swanson, O'Halloran, Kane.

Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Katic, Halliday, Jack, Aribo, Arfield, Kent, Hagi, Morelos.

Substitutes: Foderingham, Edmundson, Davis, Ojo, Barker, Stewart, Kamberi.

Scotland is basking in the calm before another storm expected later this week, but can today's two Scottish Premiership games produce something as explosive as the midweek fixtures in the Scottish Cup and Europa League?

Four Scottish Professional Football League games were postponed yesterday, with another abandoned at half-time, but there's no danger to today's fixtures and the sun is shining as the Old Firm continue their two-club battle for the title.

Stay with us for the build-up, live commentary and post-match reaction on the BBC Sport website and BBC Radio Scotland as second-top Rangers visit St Johnstone before leaders Celtic host Kilmarnock.

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