RANGERS will look to bounce back from their thrashing at home to Lyon in the Europa League on Thursday night as they welcome St Johnstone to Ibrox on Sunday evening.
Phillipe Clement’s men began their Europa League campaign with an excellent win in Sweden over champions Malmo the week before but were guilty of missing a couple of clear-cut chances and being defensively wide-open against the French side.
Domestically, The Gers have bounced back from their Old Firm defeat with a pair of 1-0 victories away at Dundee United and at home to Hibs but were far from convincing in the latter, with The Hibees missing a penalty on the stroke of half time.
After losing four of their opening five Premiership matches of the season, St Johnstone decided to axe unpopular manager Craig Levein.
The Saints then threw away a 1-3 lead to draw 3-3 late on up at Dingwall before being thrashed 0-6 at home to Celtic under the temporary care of Andy Kirk, leaving them in 10th position, just two points off the foot of the table.
How the bookies view it: Gers clear favourites
Unsurprisingly, The Gers are clear favourites to make it three wins from three in the Premiership, as they are as short as 1/7 at both Bet365 and William Hill to claim all three points.
St Johnstone are priced at a massive 18/1 to claim a surprise victory, with the draw trading at 15/2.
Head to head: Rangers Dominance of late
Rangers have been victorious in each of the past six meetings between these two sides, including a 2-0 victory at Hampden in the League Cup back in August.
Players to watch: Nice one Cyriel?
Rangers Nigerian number nine is like marmite within the Rangers support, but Dessers has scored seven times already this season – including the opener in their 2-0 League Cup over St Johnstone earlier in the season.
Arguably, the biggest one to watch for St Johnstone will actually be their new manager Simo Valakari, with the Ex-Motherwell midfielder taking charge of his first match with the Perthshire club.
Probable line-ups
Tom Lawrence has scored three goals in his last four appearances before Rangers, but the Welshman was subbed off at halftime on Thursday night, so Ianis Hagi may be brought in from the cold with the player and club finally resolving their contract dispute.
St Johnstone were thrashed by Celtic 0-6 in their last league outing, so it will be interesting to see what team Simo Valakiri picks in his first game in charge.
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Propper, Jefte, Barron, Raskin, Diomande, Bajrami, Diomande, Dessers
St Johnstone: Sinclair, Neilson, Sanders, Essel, Wright, Carey, Sprangler, Smith, Raymond, Kimpiyoka, Clark
Anything else catch the eye?”
Prior to their poor defensive showing against Lyon on Thursday night, Rangers had kept clean sheets in six of their last seven matches – with the only exception being their thrashing at Celtic Park.
Ibrox won’t be anywhere near as loud as Thursday night due to the absolutely awful kickoff time for both sets of supporters – and with the new Saints boss naturally wanting to keep things tight in his first game in charge – a slow start to the match is expected.
The Teddy Bears have won the last six meetings with St Johnstone 2-0/0-3/2-0/0-2/2-0/1-0, so a low-scoring home victory is the way to go on Sunday.
This Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and St Johnstone will be played on Oct 6, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Rangers vs St Johnstone prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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