HIBERNIAN striker Farid El Alagui is sure he can turn his former Brentford boss Mark Warburton's dream move to Rangers into a nightmare by leading the Easter Road club to the SPFL Championship.

The French-born centre-forward had Warburton as his Sporting Director at Griffin Park and has branded the new Ibrox manager's record there as "amazing".

However, El Alagui recalls how Hibernian finished ahead of Rangers in the league last season before losing out in the Play-Offs and is sure they can repeat the dose and win the title this time around.

"I know Mark Warburton well because he was sports director when I signed for Brentford," he said. "He then became the manager, but I left straight away on loan to Dundee United.

"I spent a year and a half with him. He is a really good guy and I have no issues with him at all.

"I think he is a good manager. When you look at what he achieved with Brentford, it is amazing.

"It will be a good battle. I'm excited to face him and to fight for promotion.

"Like last year, we have nothing to fear.

"We have a strong team and we are Hibernian. We don't have to look at other teams. If we focus on ourselves, I'm really confident that we can get promoted."

El Alagui missed much of last season with an Achilles tendon injury, but he expects to be fit for the beginning of the new campaign despite undergoing surgery and is pleased with the business the Edinburgh club has been doing over the summer.

"At the end of last season, I couldn't wait to start the new season because we want to finish what we started," he said. "I'm really excited. Some good players are signing for us and, when you see players like Liam Fontaine, Martin Boyle and Lewis Stevenson extending their contracts, it shows players want to be here and build a strong, strong team for next season and the seasons coming.

"At the end of the season, we decided with the medical team to get a little clean-up on my left knee because it was giving me a few problems.

"It went really well, I recovered quite quickly and now it's all about building up for the new season. I might start slower than the group and take a little more time to get back into it, but I don't think it will be too long."