Rangers warm up for derby day

Rangers
Rangers enjoyed another convincing win on Sunday as they beat Livingston FC 4-1 to keep up the pressure on leaders Celtic. Peter Løvenkrands, Nacho Novo, Steven Thompson and Hamed Namouchi all scored to close Celtic's advantage to four points. Further good news came with the return of Alan Hutton and Alex Rae after lengthy lay-offs. Teenager Hutton replaced the injured Zurab Khizanishvili at right-back while midfield veteran Rae came on as a second-half substitute after two months on the sidelines with a calf injury. Croatia striker Dado Pršo is still recovering from a head knock sustained in last week's 5-0 win over Aberdeen FC but both he and Khizanishvili should be back for the League Cup tie against Celtic on Wednesday.

Alkmaar
AZ continued their sparkling run of form, following victories over Feyenoord and Auxerre, with a 4-0 success at home to fellow UEFA Cup participants FC Utrecht. Martijn Meerdink, Kenneth Perez, Robin Nelisse and Olaf Lindenbergh (on his return from injury) scored the goals. Finnish international Juha Reini is still out with an achilles injury and no return date has yet been set.

Auxerre
Auxerre, third in the French league, recovered from their defeat at Alkmaar by holding FC Nantes Atlantique to a 1-1 draw at La Beaujoire. Auxerre are still missing three key defenders – Jean-Pascal Mignot, Jean-Sébastien Jaurès and Johan Radet - and have a concern now about winger Bonaventure Kalou who was substituted in the 51st minute with a thigh problem. Kalou is ruled out of the League Cup tie on Wednesday at Stade Rennais FC.

GAK
GAK followed up their home win over Amica with a notable 2-1 success at SV Pasching on Sunday after being reduced to ten men following a red card to Mario Bazina two minutes after his winning goal. The Austrian champions' other goal was scored by defender Joachim Standfest. It was the home team's first reverse after seven wins in a row, and it left GAK fourth in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Amica
Last weekend Amica played host to second-bottom GKS Górnik Leczna and midfielder Marcin Burkhardt scored the only goal after 12 minutes. Amica, third in the table, had more chances but Pawel Kryszalowicz twice proved wasteful while Leczna also had opportunities as the trip to Graz appeared to catch up with Amica. Piotr Dziewicki dropped to the bench, with Jaroslaw Bieniuk and Michal Stasiak forming the central defensive partnership. Meanwhile, midfielder Jacek Dembinski has been named October's player of the month in the Ekstraklasa.