Rangers Ready For Europe

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Saturday's visit of Chelsea marks the culmination of their pre-season preparations and Smith has been satisfied with the response of his players, both old and new, following their week-long trip to Germany and Tuesday night's friendly against Ajax at Ibrox.

Summer signings Lee McCulloch, Carlos Cuellar and Jean-Claude Darcheville all made their home debuts as the Rangers boss selected a starting line-up unlikely to be too far away from the one which will start the new season.

Speculation persists that Hibernian's Steven Whittaker will join the Rangers ranks before the transfer window closes at the end of August, although Wednesday night's Champions League deadline means no new arrivals are expected to arrive in time for Tuesday's visit of FK Zeta.

The Montenegrin outfit provide the opposition in the second qualifying round, following their dramatic success over Lithuanian champions FBK Kaunas, and will no doubt be buoyed by their triumph in the first round of qualifying.

Smith is keen not to underestimate their European rivals but believes there were enough positives against Ajax to be optimistic of a favourable result for Rangers next week.

"We're getting to the stage where most of our players are fully match fit so it will be up to us to choose who we feel is best for the games," he said.

"We are edging towards that.

"The game against Ajax was a test in terms of having to work very hard against a team who are very accomplished in terms of keeping possession of the ball.

"We were always aware that it was going to be a very difficult match for us.

"Ajax are a team who play in a certain way and have a style of play that's very difficult to play against.

"We expected a very tough game and we got that."

Rangers assistant boss Ally McCoist was impressed by Zeta, who won their first leg against Kaunas 3-1, fell 3-0 behind after 20 minutes of the second leg but pulled two goals back to win 5-4 on aggregate.

"There is absolutely no way we can underestimate Zeta," he said. "I couldn't believe the spirit they showed because at 3-0 down I thought they were dead and buried. Not every team can come back from that."

Smith has indicated he will again field a strong team against Chelsea this weekend but will take into consideration the fact that Rangers are involved in competitive action just a few days later.

"We are aware of that factor," he said. "We did take a few players off and we gave others the full 90 minutes (against Ajax).

"It's those players who we will maybe change around a bit on Saturday.

"We still have to get that little bit of edge as well."

Sasa Papac was withdrawn shortly into the second half against Ajax, complaining of feeling unwell, but Smith says there is no cause for concern.

"He had a stomach upset and wasn't feeling too well at half-time," he said.

"But I'm sure he will be okay for the weekend."