Rangers: Steven Gerrard’s respect for Kilmarnock and ‘enemy’ Jordan Jones

Jones recently confirmed a pre-contract agreement to join Rangers this summer from Kilmarnock and is likely to be in Steve Clarke’s line-up at Rugby Park.

“We’re well aware of Jordan but where we stand right now is that he’s a Kilmarnock player, so he’s the enemy, he’s a rival and that’s the way we’ll treat him,” said Gerrard. “I don’t think he’s got anything to prove but, from his point of view, he’s still got to prove to Kilmarnock that he’s still focused and willing to do a job for them until the end of the season.

“But nothing changes for us.

“We’ll treat him as an opponent and with respect if he’s playing.

“But this game is more about Rangers against Kilmarnock than any one individual.”

It marks a first Ladbrokes Premiership outing for Rangers since last month’s Old Firm success over Celtic.

And Gerrard has also highlighted the potential benefits of Scottish football investigating the introduction of VAR following a summit with managerial colleagues and referees in Perth.

“The statistics tell you that VAR helps the officials get more decisions, more big decisions, right,” said Gerrard, who backed moves to aid referees with replay technology but acknowledged the responsibilities of managers. “That suggests it’s common sense to look into VAR and try to introduce it at some point, I’m in favour of it.

“But what I would say is that the statistics from the officials are actually excellent when you listen to what they said in the room.

“They do a very good job, a very difficult job, and I think us managers in the heat of the moment have to respect the officials more moving forward and that’s what we’ll try to do.

“It is tough as we’re in pressured jobs and we all want to win so much - but we also have to respect the referees and their livelihoods.”