Rangers will take on Ross County at Hampden Park on Saturday afternoon, with the visitors still searching for their first win of the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership season.
The hosts sit fourth in the table with one draw and one win from their opening matches, while the visitors are eighth with two points from two draws to kickstart the campaign.
Match preview
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After going nine years without a Scottish Premiership title, Rangers finally won their record-extending 55th top-division trophy in 2020-21, finishing 25 points ahead of second-placed Celtic and recording a remarkable 102-point unbeaten season.
The Gers have failed to replicate that success in the following campaigns, finishing second in each of the three subsequent seasons and falling further behind champions Celtic each year.
Heading into the 2024-25 season, Rangers will be determined to secure another league title, aiming to prevent their fierce rivals Celtic from lifting a fourth consecutive Scottish Premiership trophy and equalling their record for the most top-division titles.
However, their preparations for this term were far from ideal, suffering three losses in four pre-season friendlies and only claiming a draw against Union Berlin in their final outing, a poor run of form that has continued into this campaign.
Philippe Clement's men have already dropped points in their opening fixture against Hearts, where their opponents looked more threatening throughout, and have also disappointingly crashed out of the Champions League qualifiers for the second consecutive season after a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Dynamo Kyiv in the third round.
The Gers picked up their first win of the campaign against Motherwell in their second league fixture, and are coming into this one after recording their second victory of the season, beating St Johnstone 2-0 in the second round of the Scottish League Cup.
Clement will be optimistic of building upon that victory with another positive performance against Ross County, a side they have only lost to once in the last 22 matches, though that defeat was a 3-2 loss in their most recent encounter.
The Staggies are also coming into the game after a mixed beginning to their 2024-25 season, winning all four of their Scottish League Cup matches before failing to win any of the following three games.
Don Cowie's men drew both their opening two league fixtures, drawing 0-0 with Motherwell and 1-1 with Dundee United, with Ronan Hale scoring a 95th-minute equaliser in the latter game.
They followed those results up with a frustrating 1-0 defeat to Scottish League Two team The Spartans FC, leaving Ross County with little confidence as they head into their trip to face Rangers.
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Team News
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The hosts are expected to be without Nicolas Raskin, Oscar Cortes and Ridvan Yilmaz for this one as the trio continue their recovery from various injury issues, though all three should return early next month.
Robin Propper is also a doubt after the defender was forced off in the 45th minute of their 2-0 victory over St Johnstone in the Scottish League Cup, leaving Ben Davies likely to start alongside John Souttar.
Cowie will be unable to call upon the services of Max Sheaf, who made his last appearance for the club against Rangers in April, and Ricki Lamie, who has been out of action since August.
Hale has scored four times in five appearances for the club since his arrival from Cliftonville FC, and the forward is expected to lead the line alongside Jordan White here.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
Butland; Tavernier, Souttar, Davies, Sterling; Diomande, Barron; Cerny, Dowell, Matondo; Dessers
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Laidlaw; Efete, Wright, Nightingale, Harmon; Denholm, Randall, Allardice, Grieves; White, Hale
We say: Rangers 2-1 Ross County
While Rangers have endured a mixed opening to the season, Ross County have been far from impressive in their first matches, and with the hosts possessing more quality throughout their squad, Rangers should win here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
