RANGERS take their unbeaten record to Kilmarnock on Sunday where they will be presented with the opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership, at least temporarily.
Steven Gerrard's side have avoided defeat in 17 games across all competitions to date, an impressive run of form which coincides with an eye-catching 14 clean sheets.
Inconsistency has dented Rangers' bid for domestic honours in recent years, however, there is no room for error this season with fierce rivals Celtic targeting a historic tenth-successive Scottish Premiership title.
The Light Blues made light work of their old foes in the opening Old Firm of the season and the Ibrox side have since surged six points clear at the summit following Celtic's pulsating 3-3 draw at Pittodrie last Sunday.
Standing in Rangers' way at Rugby Park this weekend is a Kilmarnock outfit who have made a mixed start to the first quarter of the Scottish Premiership season, opening with four wins, two draws and five defeats.
Killie saw their three-game winning streak come to an end last Saturday in a narrow 1-0 loss at home to Hibs, however, Alex Dyer's troops will take confidence from their recent home record against Rangers.
Outright Betting
Kilmarnock have triumphed in three of their last four Scottish Premiership home matches with Rangers, however, the hosts are big outsiders here at 11/1 with Bet 365, while the draw is also deemed unlikely at 9/2 with the same firm.
Red-hot Rangers have avoided defeat in each of their last 17 matches across all competitions and an away success on Sunday is odds-on at 2/7 with William Hill.
Betting Angles
Kilmarnock earned a deserved early-season 1-1 draw at home to Celtic and I suspect the Ayrshire outfit will set out to frustrate Rangers with a replica of the defensive blueprint that stifled the Bhoys.
Killie boss Dyer has plenty of experienced pros at his disposal and he will be hoping for another stubborn display from his side when Rangers come to town this weekend.
With that in mind, coupled with the fact that Rangers' lean backline have racked up 10 clean sheets across their 12 Scottish top-flight tussles this term, another low-scoring affair could be in store on Sunday.
Backing Rangers to win and under 4.5 match goals looks slightly short at 4/7 with Betfred and therefore I'm going to turn towards William Hill's Build Your Odds feature where I like the look of the 21/20 on offer for Rangers to win, under 4.5 match goals and Kilmarnock to collect two or more cards.
Nine of Rangers 10 league wins this season have featured less than five goals and I fancy a repeat this weekend on afternoon where I suspect the hosts could revert to the dark arts when trying to tame the Teddy Bears top-heavy attack.
Given the ageing spine of Killie's line-up, as well as the fact that controversial whistler Andrew Dallas will take charge of this contest, I'm more than happy to back Kilmarnock to collect at least a couple of bookings during this bout.
I'll also dip into the player card market and take the 6/4 on offer with William Hill for Kilmarnock midfielder Alan Power to be booked.
The tough-tackling Irishman clocked up 10 cards during last season's curtailed season and he already has five yellows to his name in eight outings this term.
With Rangers expected to dominate the ball for long stages at Rugby Park, Power could well pick up another card on Sunday and I'm also going to have a small stake longshot punt on both Power and Killie captain Gary Dicker to be carded at 8/1 with William Hill.
The Killie skipper himself is no stranger to a card having picked up eight bookings last season and it's also worth noting that the above-mentioned player card combo clicked during Kilmarnock's 1-1 draw with Celtic in August.
This Scottish Premiership match between Kilmarnock and Rangers will be played on Nov 1, 2020 and kick off at 12:00. Check below for our tipsters best Kilmarnock vs Rangers prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
