Rangers will be looking to cement their position at the top of the Scottish Premiership table when they travel to Hamilton Academical for Saturday's clash.
Both sides prevailed in their most recent fixtures, with Rangers enjoying a comfortable 2-0 victory over Kilmarnock while Hamilton scraped a 1-0 win over Motherwell in the Lanarkshire derby.
Match preview
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Having lost their opening three games of the 2020-21 campaign, Hamilton finally managed to get their season up and running with a slender victory at Motherwell last Saturday.
Brian Rice's men had to wait 86 minutes to break the deadlock against their local rivals, but Hakeem Odoffin was on hand to power home a header from Reegan Mimnaugh's corner in the dying embers of the match.
Rice witnessed his side succumb to defeats against Celtic, Ross County and St Mirren in their opening three matches, but a first victory of the season ought to give the Accies the confidence to push on and rise further up the table.
Following Hamilton's success against their Lanarkshire rivals, the Accies have climbed off the foot of the table into ninth - leapfrogging Motherwell, Kilmarnock and Livingston in the process - and Hamilton have a game in hand over the three sides below them.
Rice's men should be heading into their clash with Rangers brimming with confidence following their derby-day victory, but securing back-to-back wins in the Scottish Premiership will be a difficult ask against the in-form table-toppers.
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Steven Gerrard is certainly under pressure to deliver some silverware to the Rangers faithful this season, and the table-toppers maintained their position atop the rankings with a routine victory against a struggling Kilmarnock side last Saturday.
Kemar Roofe netted his first goal for the club on the 50-minute mark before Leeds United-linked Ryan Kent made sure of the win 13 minutes before the full-time whistle blew.
The result means that Rangers remain clear of second-placed Hibernian on goal difference after five games each, and Gerrard's men are yet to ship a goal in the 2020-21 campaign following four wins and one draw thus far.
Current champions Celtic do have two games in hand over Rangers, but there is no reason for the table-toppers to be looking over their shoulder at this early stage of the season as they look to keep their unbeaten run going against Hamilton.
Gerrard's side can temporarily open up a three-point gap at the top of the table with three points at the Fountain of Youth Stadium, with second-placed Hibs set to take on Aberdeen a day later.
Hamilton did manage to prevail 1-0 in the most recent encounter between the two clubs, but Rangers have come out on top in 11 of their last 13 meetings with the Accies in all competitions .
Hamilton Academical Scottish Premiership form: LLLW
Rangers Scottish Premiership form: WWWDW
Team News
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Hamilton are still likely to be without midfielder Ronan Hughes, who is struggling with a hamstring problem, but Rice has no fresh injury concerns from the victory at Motherwell.
Club captain Brian Easton is not expected to feature for at least another few weeks, while Will Collar will likely remain on the treatment table with shin problems until September.
Recent arrival Justin Johnson lasted less than 40 minutes of his first start in Hamilton colours last weekend, but there are no reports of the 24-year-old suffering an injury and he could feature from the first whistle again here.
Meanwhile, Rangers boss Gerrard could be facing a selection dilemma up top, with Alfredo Morelos potentially coming back into the fold after missing out against Kilmarnock.
However, Roofe's first goal for the club means that he could spearhead the Gers attack again as Morelos continues to be linked with a move away from Ibrox.
Ianis Hagi, Glen Kamara and Scott Arfield all appeared as late substitutes for Rangers in their win at the weekend, and the trio will be pushing for starting spots against Hamilton.
Hamilton Academical possible starting lineup:
Fulton; Hodson, Odoffin, Want, McMann; Johnson, Callachan, Mimnaugh, Moyo; Ogkmpoe, C. Smith
Rangers possible starting lineup:
McLaughlin; Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic; Jack, Davis; Kent, Hagi, Itten; Roofe
We say: Hamilton Academical 1-3 Rangers
Hamilton were certainly made to work for their victory over Lanarkshire rivals Motherwell, but a clash with an in-form Rangers side represents a completely different kettle of fish for the Accies. The only way is up for Gerrard's men at the moment and they have a strong recent record against Hamilton, so we are backing Rangers to march to victory yet again on Saturday evening.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a draw in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Draw:data
Ben Knapton
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 70.89%. A draw had a probability of 18.6% and a win for Hamilton Academical had a probability of 10.53%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rangers win was 0-2 with a probability of 13.83%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (13.1%) and 0-3 (9.74%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.76%), while for a Hamilton Academical win it was 1-0 (4.15%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 13.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-2 win for Rangers in this match.
