Two Scottish Premiership teams at opposite ends of the table will face off on Sunday afternoon, as champions and leaders Rangers welcome basement club Ross County to Ibrox.
Both sides – who are separated by 21 points in the current standings – head into this fixture after thumping league victories in their last matches, scoring a combined 11 goals.
Match preview
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Rangers were unable to follow up their emphatic 6-1 victory against Motherwell last weekend with another win, as they could only draw 1-1 against Brondby in the Europa League on Thursday night.
The Danish outfit went ahead on the stroke of half time when Leon Balogun put the ball into his own net, however the Gers responded with a strike from Ianis Hagi in the 77th minute to rescue a point.
That result, however, means there is still plenty of work to do in their final two games if they are to advance from Group A. Lyon's 100% record means they have already qualified for the round of 32, while Steven Gerrard's men sit level on four points with Sparta Prague, who the Gers face next in the competition at the end of this month.
Rangers now prepare for a Premiership encounter at Ibrox against Ross County, who they have beaten in each of their last 10 meetings – scoring 29 goals and conceding just five in the process.
Form on home soil has taken a slight dip for the Gers in recent weeks, as they have drawn three of their last four league games at Ibrox, conceding five goals – this spell has come after an impressive 21-game winning run at home between August 2020 and August 2021 where they conceded only four times.
Nevertheless, a victory on Sunday is expected for Gerrard's side, who will consolidate their place at the Premiership summit with three points against the Staggies.
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After Wednesday's fixture with Hibernian was postponed due to the Edinburgh outfit's coronavirus troubles, Ross County have been reminiscing about their emphatic 5-0 victory away against Dundee at the end of last month, a result which ended their 10-game winless start to the new campaign.
The Staggies raced into a 4-0 first-half lead with strikes from Harry Clarke, Ross Callachan, Joseph Hungbo and Regan Charles-Cook, before the latter added a fifth in the 71st minute to rub salt into Dundee's wounds.
Malky Mackay's men remain at the foot of the table, but the gap to safety has been reduced slightly as they now sit six points behind Livingston in 10th place.
Spirits are now high in the Ross County camp, though their hopes of successive Premiership wins are slim as they face a daunting task on Sunday against the champions.
The Staggies have never won an away league visit to the reigning Scottish champions in 13 previous attempts, drawing three games and losing 10, with every encounter coming against Celtic between 2012 and 2020.
In addition, Ross County have never beaten Rangers in a competitive fixture in their 92-year history, drawing three matches and losing 13 times, including each of their last 10 in the top flight.
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Team News
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Gerrard was able to welcome back Ryan Kent as a substitute against Brondby, with the winger recovering from a hamstring injury to play for just over half an hour in Denmark, and he will now be in contention to start on Sunday.
However, Rangers are still without centre-back Filip Helander as his recovery from knee surgery continues, while midfielder Ryan Jack has returned to first-team training but is unlikely to feature this weekend.
Alfredo Morelos and Fashion Sakala, who were both brought off midway through the second half in midweek, are set to start again in attack, while Hagi and John Lundstram will be hoping to force their way into the first XI after starting the last game on the bench.
As for Ross County, their only injury concern is with defender Jake Vokins, who continues to recover from a broken foot.
After such an impressive win last time out, Mackay is unlikely to make too many changes, if any, to his starting lineup, so the likes of Jordan Tillson and Harry Paton should keep their places in central midfield, with Callachan operating in the number 10 role behind striker Jordan White.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Barisic; Lundstram, Davis, Aribo; Roofe, Morelos, Fashion
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Maynard-Brewer; Clarke, Baldwin, Iacovitti, Randall; Tillison, H. Paton; Hungbo, Callachan, Charles-Cook; White
We say: Rangers 3-0 Ross County
Everything points towards a routine home victory for Rangers on Sunday with Gerrard's crop of talent expected to get the job done in front of their supporters.
Ross County will take some confidence into the game after their impressive victory last time out, though their hopes of claiming any points here are slim.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
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 78.87%. A draw had a probability of 14% and a win for Ross County had a probability of 7.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rangers win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.35%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (11.4%) and 1-0 (10.42%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.67%), while for a Ross County win it was 0-1 (2.6%). The actual scoreline of 4-2 was predicted with a 1.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Rangers would win this match.
