Rangers will be looking to get back on track after their midweek League Cup exit when they welcome Motherwell to Ibrox on Saturday afternoon for a Scottish Premiership clash.
The visitors will also be looking to return to form after losing in the league last weekend at home to St Mirren, a result that kept them fixed firmly in fifth place in the table.
Match preview
© Reuters
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard may have presided over a resurgence at Ibrox but he will have to wait a bit longer for silverware after his team lost to St Mirren in the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup in midweek.
The Gers have now failed to win nine straight tournaments in a row with Gerrard as manager, if you count European competitions alongside domestic ones.
No Rangers manager has previously failed to win so many consecutive tournaments, which is a sign of how Celtic have dominated in Scotland over the last decade or so.
It is not all gloom and doom at Ibrox, though, with the Light Blues in a strong position at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
Their 47 points puts them 13 clear of stumbling Celtic, although the Bhoys do have two games in hand, with Gerrard's men yet to lose a league game in 2020-21.
Prior to the defeat in Paisley on Wednesday night, the Gers were unbeaten in 27 games in all competitions, and they will be keen to recapture that kind of form on Saturday against the Steelmen.
© Reuters
Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson will have a fair idea of how Gerrard might be feeling after Wednesday night, as he oversaw a defeat to St Mirren in the last week too.
'Well midfielder Alan Campbell has targeted a shock at Ibrox as the perfect way to react to the 1-0 reverse at home to the Buddies last week.
The Steelmen had 19 shots on goal compared with the away team's eight last week, and Campbell has acknowledged that they need to start putting away those chances if they want to pick up points.
This is the first of two demanding fixtures for the Lanarkshire outfit, who travel to face Aberdeen next Wednesday. They have lost four out of their last five games in all competitions so need to dig deep to rediscover some form.
Rangers Scottish Premiership form: WWWWWW
Rangers form (all competitions): WWWWWL
Motherwell Scottish Premiership form: WLLDLL
Motherwell form (all competitions): LLDLLL
Team News
© Reuters
Rangers will have to make do without star striker Alfredo Morelos, who will be serving the second game of a two-match suspension after being deemed guilty of violent conduct in last week's win over Dundee United.
Leon Balogun suffered a head knock against St Mirren and the club will monitor his recovery ahead of Saturday's game.
Jordan Jones and George Edmundson are still suspended after breaches of COVID-19 regulations earlier in the season.
For Motherwell, Charles Dunne continues his spell on the sidelines after undergoing surgery on a groin injury, while Liam Donnelly is also expected to be out until mid-January after recently having a knee operation.
Jordan Archer will continue in goal for the Steelmen with both Trevor Carson and Scott Fox long-term absentees with injury.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Bassey; Arfield, Zungu, Aribo; Roofe, Itten, Kent
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Archer; O'Donnell, Mugabi, Gallagher, Grimshaw; Campbell, O'Hara, Maguire; Long, Watt, Lang
We say: Rangers 2-0 Motherwell
We expect that Rangers will bounce back strongly after their League Cup exit and take a comfortable three points against Motherwell.
The Steelmen struggled to score last weekend and they won't get away with that kind of profligacy at Ibrox. We expect Gerrard's men to be ruthless, efficient and victorious on Saturday.
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 80.84%. A draw had a probability of 12.9% and a win for Motherwell had a probability of 6.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rangers win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.07%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (11.74%) and 1-0 (9.71%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.11%), while for a Motherwell win it was 0-1 (2.27%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Rangers would win this match.
