'Clement's direct style can come to fruition in Athens'

Might a long-ball approach be Rangers' best hope of beating Olympiakos in Athens tonight?

John Walker, a football analyst and Rangers fan, believes so.

He set out his case on the BBC's Scottish football podcast, saying: "We've seen it in Malmo [Rangers' 2-0 away win], teams that have a bit more of identity, a bit more style, who want to play a bit more football against us, can come a little bit unstuck.

"Our kind of, I think the Olympiakos coach called it 'vertical play', I would call it long ball. But direct, long-ball play may actually benefit us in Europe.

"And especially if you're missing the likes of Tom Lawrence and I suspect [Mohamed] Diomande will play in that role. With Diomande, [Vaclav] Cerny and [Nedim] Bajrami you've got real pace driving up the pitch on counters.

"So I actually think Olympiakos, this could be a good break for Rangers. It could be somewhere I would expect us to go and get a positive result.

"It's something that Philippe Clement's style can come to fruition and teams can come unstuck against it a little bit."

Walker expects Dujon Sterling to get the nod ahead of captain James Tavernier in the Greek capital as Rangers seek to make it three wins from their opening four Europa League outings.

"I think the style of plays affected Tavernier a bit because it's more direct and he definitely doesn't have the pace to get up and down 90 yards," he added.

"There was a massive improvement when Sterling came on on Sunday at right-back. Pace, athleticism, willingness just to run off and give Cerny the line himself. I would be very surprised if Sterling doesn't start tonight."