Djiga joined Rangers on loan from Wolves until the end of the season, and he initially struggled with life at Ibrox under Russell Martin.

The Burkina Faso international made several mistakes for the Bears in the first half of the campaign, with his disastrous performance in the 6-0 loss to Club Brugge on 27 August coming under intense scrutiny.

However, since returning from AFCON, Djiga has stepped up when called upon by Danny Rohl, and given that John Souttar isn’t in the best of form, the 23-year-old could start alongside Emmanuel Fernandez.

Nasser Djiga must start after John Souttar struggled in Rangers vs Hearts

Souttar has had his fair share of injuries this campaign, and that has surely contributed to his poor performances.

The 29-year-old defender was beaten in the air by Claudio Braga for Hearts’ second goal in Rangers’ 4-2 win on Sunday, which is something that should never happen for a centre-back of his stature.

The Scotland international won just 40 per cent of his ground duels and 50 per cent of his aerial duels against the Jambos, and that is certainly not a good return in a match of huge importance.

Souttar’s stats vs Hearts (via Sofascore)

According to Sofascore, Djiga completed 100 per cent of his ground duels and 75 per cent of his aerial duels against Motherwell on 11 February.

Given the fact that the centre-back also made eight clearances and six recoveries in the match at Fir Park, it was incredibly harsh to see him dropped for the game against Hearts.

Souttar has a passing accuracy of 90.7 per cent in the league this season, which is bettered by Djiga’s total of 93 per cent.

Not only is Djiga more aggressive than Souttar, but he is clearly more assertive in possession, which could allow Rohl’s side to move the ball around the pitch much quicker.

Djiga provides more off the ball than Souttar does for Rangers

At 23 years of age, Djiga is much faster and stronger than the Scottish centre-back.

He has made 24 interceptions in 16 Scottish Premiership appearances, while Souttar has only registered seven interceptions in 20 league games.

Speaking on the Go Ballistic podcast on 16 February, Kris Boyd had a lot of praise for Djiga and his resurgence in form.

He said: “Djiga has done well in the last few weeks for me. I thought he was Rangers’ best defender against Motherwell in the week.

“But for whatever reason, he was left out on Sunday.”

The Light Blues are now just two points off the top of the table, and they mustn’t drop any more points before the league splits up in mid-April.

With Djiga in the side, Rangers can certainly reach their full potential, whereas Souttar has let them down multiple times this campaign.

Hopefully, Rohl will also realise that they are a stronger team with Djiga, which could spark a big change.

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