Steven Gerrard has reserved special praise for Hibs' recruitment and Jack Ross ahead of their Easter Road meeting.
The two sides come head to head on Wednesday night as the Hibees look to bounce back from their Betfred Cup disappointment.
Hibs have pushed Rangers close this season with a 2-2 draw at Easter Road and a narrow 1-0 defeat at Ibrox on Boxing Day.
And Gerrard insists the Edinburgh club are one of the strongest outfits in the Premiership and is a huge fan of what they are building under Ross.
He said: "Hibs are a good team and they are never going to make it easy for you by rolling over and allowing you to just beat them.
“They have always been one of the strongest teams in this league, even when I’ve been looking in from afar.
"They’ve recruited well, got a good manager but I don’t think the playing surface looks too good on the eye from what I’ve seen in recent games that I’ve watched.
“It will be a challenge, it will be a test.
“But we’re in a good place, we’re looking forward to it.
“We’ve been there and won before. I thought we should have won the last game if we’d have taken our chances.
“And we know what we have to do to get what we want out of that game.
“We’re going to need a similar level of performance that we got against Ross County for sure because they are going to do everything they can to be the first team that beats us from a league point of view.”
The Easter Road pitch hasn't held up through winter, but Gerrard insists he won't use that as an excuse.
He added: “I take everything into consideration all the time. I look at all the details.
“We always try to pick a team that is capable of winning the game, of course.
“But certain things you have to take into consideration around that as well.”
