Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has confirmed that Nikola Katic has been ruled out for the rest of the season as he continues to recover from an ACL injury.

It was hoped that the Croatian could return in the coming weeks but Gerrard says there is no date set for the centre-back’s return to action:

“It’s an injury where you have to take your time and really allow the injury to tell you when it’s ready rather than push for a certain date. There’s no guarantees on Niko right now and come the summertime.”

Gerrard did have much better news when it came to Scott Arfield, though, with the 32-year-old expected to be back in contention for the first leg of the Europa League knockout round tie against Antwerp later this month.

The midfielder has not featured since injuring his ankle in the 1-0 win over Hibernian on Boxing Day. He has subsequently missed six league games, but the player is now expected to be back in training at the end of this week.

Arfield will need time to get back to full fitness, though, so he is very unlikely to feature against Kilmarnock or Hamilton.