RANGERS will prepare for their Scottish Cup final with a behind-closed-doors clash against an English Premier League outfit next month.

Mark Warburton’s side round off their Championship campaign away to St Mirren next Sunday after the fixtures against Alloa and Livingston in the coming days.

The Light Blues then face three weeks out of action before they go head-to-head with Hibernian at Hampden as they bid for a third winners medal this term.

It is a far from ideal situation for the champions but Warburton is confident his side will be in the right condition for the showpiece finale to the season.

He said: "We're going to give the boys three or four days off and then we'll go and play a Premier League team behind closed doors and then just train as normal.

“The week before will be a normal week and before that we'll play the game down south and after the St Mirren game we will just give the boys a few days off.

“It's a real challenge and we had the same problem down south. There's no masking it, it's difficult.

“You can have too many big games if you're involved in the play-offs or too few games if you aren't.

"For me, if you go to La Manga, the sun is shining and it's a holiday destination and there's people walking by with their flip flops on and their surfboards on their shoulder.

“It's a mindset thing. It's a long season and the boys aren't far away from vacation and once you start going to these environments it's too easy to think that.

"People say ‘oh they need to play games’, but it's been a long season. The boys have had a lot of football.

“[On Wednesday night against Hibernian] you had Tavernier overlapping in the 90th minute, Barrie McKay tracking back, Jason Holt running 14km... they are big numbers, they are Premier League numbers.

“So it is tricky, it's making sure they are okay. It's about their working day. We got back at 1am last night - the best thing is sleep."