St Johnstone may be the Scottish Cup holders but manager Tommy Wright insists they will need to do some giantkilling if they are to advance in the League Cup.
The McDiarmid men were handed a quarter-final tie against Rangers at Ibrox when the draw for the last eight was made at Tannadice on Wednesday night.
Saints are the proud winners of the other national knockout competition and Rangers may be in a league below them but Wright thinks all the expectation will be on Ally McCoist’s team when the tie takes place on either October 28 or 29.
“It is a great draw for us because there is no pressure on us,” said Wright.
“It is a massive club (Rangers) against a little club (Saints).
“Also, they are doing really well at the moment and have already beaten Inverness and Falkirk in the competition.
“Rangers have regained their form in the league after the early setback against Hearts so they are a team that’s used to winning.
“I have seen them a couple of times and I think their improvement is down to the fact they are challenged more in the Championship and their players are responding to that.
“And if you look at the squad they have it is one that probably compete in the top league.
“It will also be good for the players to go to Ibrox because players want to go to play huge clubs in front of big crowds stadia that are world class.
“We look at the draw and think we can beat anybody on our day. That’s how we will approach it.
“There is a lot of time between now and the quarter-final but we will we can just go and look forward to it.”
Wright was at Tannadice to watch Saturday’s Premiership opponents Dundee United edge out Dundee with an injury-time goal to take their place in the last eight.
“I watched them on Wednesday night and I think Dundee could count themselves unlucky,” was Wright’s verdict on the derby.
“However, United are a team that has quality running right through them.
“Some of their personnel has changed and I think defensively they look a lot more solid than perhaps they were last season.
“Both Callum Morris and Jaroslaw Fojut look formidable and they can also score from setpieces as Fojut showed in midweek.
“Their creative players like Gary Mackay-Steven, Stuart Armstrong and Ryan Dow are still dangerous but we do have decent recent record against them and hopefully we can put in another performance that gets us another good result.”
Saints will be without United loan striker Brian Graham, the man who secured their third-round win over Kilmarnock on Tuesday, for the league clash at Tannadice.
Also, there won’t be a new frontman signed in time to boost their squad.
“Brian will have to drop out as it’s part of the loan agreement,” added Wright.
“He will be missed because he has been superb for us.
“We believe that if we can get balls into the box he can score goals for us and he has belief in his own ability to do that.
“We knew this would happen and we have tried to get someone in but that now doesn’t look like it will happen before Saturday.
“We are looking at next week at the earliest.”
Wright will give midfielder Scott Brown a chance to prove his fitness today but the United game looks to be beyond him.