GARY MCALLISTER is hopeful some of the self-isolating Rangers stars will be allowed to face Celtic on Sunday – but the Ibrox No2 didn’t name the players affected by the Covid outbreak.

The Gers squad has been ravaged by positive Covid tests returned earlier this week with Steven Gerrard and six first-team players not travelling to the Europa League play-off clash against Alashkert.

Skipper James Tavernier didn’t travel to Armenia with the squad with Ryan Kent, Scott Wright and Calvin Bassey also notable omissions.

Goalkeepers Allan McGregor and Jon McLaughlin will also remain in Glasgow as Rangers aim to preserve their one-goal lead and secure a spot in the Europa League group stage.

Neither the club, nor McAllister have confirmed which players or staff have tested positive for Covid, but the No2 did reveal he’s hopeful some players could re-join the squad for Sunday’s Old Firm clash.

Quizzed on whether any self-isolating players could return for Sunday, McAllister said: “Yeah. You’ve got to be mindful of the fact that, now that we’ve moved on and a lot of the people in and around our club have been double vaccinated, there are advantages.

“So we will be looking at that. Things will be changing as we speak. 

“I’m sure all the medical people at our club are all over that.

“As we pass information to the governing bodies, we will be getting guided by them as well.”

Updated SFA rules state that any close contacts who have been double vaccinated could be able to cut their isolation period short if they return a negative result on a PCR test and have no symptoms.

The SFA ruling reads: “Those with symptoms or testing positive will still be required to self-isolate.

“Close contacts aged 18 years or older who have been double vaccinated more than 14 days prior and with no symptoms will be able to get a PCR test and end self-isolation if the result is negative.”