Rangers manager Steven Gerrard explains why he has made five changes from the midweek draw with St Johnstone.

"We didn't want to give much away," he tells Premier Sports. "We'll have to play well to get through today. It's an exciting tie.

"There's no excuses tonight. Everyone will throw everyone at it."

Scott Wright scored his first goal for Rangers on Wednesday night, but that is not enough to start this evening's game.

"Scott has done everything we've asked of him, but if you look at our front there, it's been really consistent," Gerrard adds.

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One side will be left with hopes of a domestic double crushed at Ibrox.

League champions Rangers are strong favourites having won all three meetings with League Cup winners St Johnstone this season without conceding - scoring seven times - until Liam Craig's late penalty secured a point for the home side on Wednesday.

As a dress rehearsal for their cup re-match, it has B-movie status, though, given that Rangers manager Steven Gerrard rested some first-choice players at McDiarmid Park.

The Premiership long won, Gerrard was taking no chances as he targets an end to the Ibrox side's 12-year wait to lift the Scottish Cup for a 34th time.

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No wonder considering the Ibrox men have lost at this stage two seasons running, last reached the semis in 2018 and have not been in the final for five years.

While St Johnstone arrive having only lost once in nine outings, their hopes of an upset appear slim considering they have not scored in their latest three visits to Ibrox, have not beaten Rangers in any of their previous 14 Scottish Cup meetings and Gerrard's side have only lost once at home all season - to Slavia Prague in the Europa League last 16.

Indeed, Saints have not reached the semis since they lifted the trophy for the first time in 2014 and lost to eventual winners Celtic at this stage last season.

Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Davis, Kamara, Aribo, Hagi, Kent, Morelos.

Substitutions: McLaughlin, Simpson, Defoe, Itten, Wright, Stewart, Roofe, King.

St Johnstone: Clark, Kerr, Gordon, McCart, Tanser, McCann, Craig, Wotherspoon, Rooney, Melamed, May.

Substitutes: Parish, Brown, Booth, Bryson, Gilmour, Kane, Conway, O'Halloran, Ferguson.

Like Rangers, League Cup winners St Johnstone are yet to lose a goal in this season's Scottish Cup. Guy Melamed scored the only goal in the third-round win at Dundee.

And, in the fourth round, Melamed and Michael O'Halloran netted in the 2-0 defeat of Clyde.

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Rangers put four past Cove Rangers without reply in the Scottish Cup third round and met Old Firm rivals Celtic in round four.

Steven Davis' opener and Jonjoe Kenny's own goal secured Steven Gerrard's side a derby win.

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St Johnstone will need all the firepower they can muster to match their last victory at Ibrox - 3-1 back in December 2017 - and manager Callum Davidson will be delighted that the suspected concussion that forced in-form Israeli striker Guy Melamed to be withdrawn early in midweek turned out to be a mere migraine.

For Gerrard, a potential selection headache was cleared with the failure of Rangers' appeal against a six-game ban for five players, including in-form teenager Nathan Patterson, for breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules.

It meant that captain James Tavernier was assured to continue at right-back after returning from injury on Wednesday.

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St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson makes just one change from the midweek draw at home to Rangers.

Scott Tanser starts ahead of Callum Booth at left-back.

As already mentioned, Rangers and St Johnstone are meeting for the second time in four days.

In Wednesday's Premiership meeting, Liam Craig's stoppage-time penalty cancelled out Scott Wright's opener for Rangers and you can watch the highlights from that game below.

As we turn our attention to today's second quarter-final at Ibrox Steven Gerrard is first to reveal his line-up. The Rangers manager makes five changes from the midweek 1-1 draw at McDiarmid Park with today's visitors.

Regular first choice Allan McGregor replaces Jon McLaughlin in goal.

Filip Helander is back in central defence, Ryan Kent and Joe Aribo in midfield, with Alfredo Morelos up front.

It means midweek goalscorer Scott Wright is among those dropping to the bench.

So Dundee United join Hibernian as the second side into the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

We'll not have too long to wait before finding out the third as Rangers host St Johnstone this evening in this staggered quarter-final weekend.

However, we'll take a short break before starting the build-up to that 18:30 kick-off. Come back and join us for that.

Gary Woods had kept his place in goal for only his second Aberdeen start since joining on loan from Oldham Athletic despite captain Joe Lewis being fit enough to sit on the bench.

However, the Englishman was left exposed too often by the home defence.

Meanwhile, Deniz Mehmet, with first choice Benjamin Siegriest sidelined, dealt comfortably with anything Aberdeen could throw at him.

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Aberdeen are left concentrating on the remaining league games and what looks like an inevitable fourth-place finish that will bring with it a place in the new European Conference League.

United, meanwhile, are clear of relegation in eighth and can now target the Europa League spot that goes with lifting the Scottish Cup.

Making that his priority certainly worked for Micky Mellon. The United boss rested six first-team players in midweek against Kilmarnock.

The 3-0 defeat, in retrospect, proved to be a blip after all - their only defeat in eight games - as they looked full of conserved energy to record a fifth consecutive win outside that trip to Rugby Park.

Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass tells BBC Scotland: "The first-half performance set the tone for the whole game.

"We didn't get close to them, didn't manage to play around any sort of pressure they put on us. We got what we deserved overall."

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Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass may be regretting his decision to go with Tommie Hoban and Andrew Considine in central defence in the absence of the injured Ross McCrorie.

Considine has shown his worth at left-back and on the left of a back three, even recently at international level with Scotland.

However, pushing two full-backs forward exposed the two centre-backs to the triple threat of Scotland strikers Marc McNulty and Lawrence Shankland along with the often unsung danger man, Nicky Clark.

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Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer