High-flying Rangers travel to Tayside this Sunday for a lunchtime clash with Dundee United, with Steven Gerrard's team going in search of their eighth straight clean sheet in the league.
Dundee United have been embroiled in some COVID-19 related controversy over the last couple of weeks, with manager Micky Mellon having been in isolation. Whether Mellon returns to the dugout this weekend is yet to be confirmed.
Match preview
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Dundee United lost 2-0 away at Livingston last weekend, with academy head of performance Thomas Courts overseeing the squad in Mellon's absence.
Mellon, along with nine players, was forced to go into self-isolation in the lead-up to the game last weekend after a team group photo was leaked that showed no social distancing in place.
The Arabs boss had access to a live stream throughout the game against Livingston and was in constant contact with Courts and the rest of the coaching team, but he was unable to influence the outcome positively as things turned out.
The only regular first teamer among the nine who were compelled to self-isolate was ex-Rangers man Nicky Clark, with key men like Lawrence Shankland and Mark Reynolds unaffected.
Reynolds, Shankland and the rest could do little to prevent a Livingston win last weekend, however, and Mellon's return would surely provide a boost ahead of what is set to be a tough test against an in-form Rangers outfit.
The Arabs are currently in sixth place in the Premiership table, as far away from third place as they are from the relegation zone, and have made a solid return to Scotland's top flight.
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Steven Gerrard's Rangers team are in awesome form going into the weekend's trip to Tannadice, having progressed to the knockout phase of the Europa League in some style this week.
The Gers won their final game of the Europa League group stage 2-0 at Lech Poznan, a victory that confirmed their place at the top of Group D with 14 points.
Gerrard's men have been in similarly impressive form domestically, and remain unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership this season.
The Light Blues enjoy a 13-point lead over second-placed Celtic, having won 14 and drawn two of their 16 league games so far in 2020-21.
Rangers have won their last eight Premiership matches and kept a clean sheet in seven of them, and have scored at least four goals in their last three league games.
The Ibrox outfit's defence has been a big part of their success this season, with the men from Govan conceding just three league goals all season.
That makes them strong favourites for this game, though United will be given some hope by the fact that they have not lost in the league since the beginning of October and have won their last two home league games.
Dundee United Scottish Premiership form: DDWDWL
Dundee United form (all competitions): DWDDWL
Rangers Scottish Premiership form: WWWWWW
Rangers form (all competitions): WDWWWW
Team News
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Dundee United have an almost full deck from which to pick, with Nicky Clark being the only regular first-teamer forced into isolation as a result of COVID-19 contacts.
It remains unclear which of the coaching staff will be able to oversee the squad, though reports earlier this week indicated that manager Micky Mellon could be back in place on the sideline for Sunday's game.
Steven Gerrard made sweeping changes to his side for their Thursday night Europa League win and will surely revert to a more usual domestic line-up on Sunday.
Ryan Jack continues to be sidelined with a muscle injury while Jordan Jones and George Edmundson are both suspended. Filip Helander has been in isolation recently and may not be quite sharp enough for Sunday.
Dundee United possible starting lineup:
Siegrist; Connolly, Edwards, Reynolds; Smith, Powers, Fuchs, Sporle; Harkes; Shankland, McNulty
Rangers possible starting lineup:
McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Barisic; Aribo, Davis, Kamara; Roofe, Kent; Morelos
We say: Dundee United 0-3 Rangers
We predict that Rangers will continue their current indomitable run and produce a convincing 3-0 victory for their fans to savour at Tannadice on Sunday.
There is simply too much attacking power in this Rangers team for United to cope with, while the disruption to preparation caused by Mellon's absence is an added distraction that will not help the home side.
Top betting tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Rangers win with a probability of 79.5%. A draw had a probability of 13.4% and a win for Dundee United had a probability of 7.06%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rangers win was 0-2 with a probability of 12.54%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-3 (11.15%) and 0-1 (9.41%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.38%), while for a Dundee United win it was 1-0 (2.39%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with an 8.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Rangers would win this match.
