THE 2022/23 Scottish Premiership curtain-raiser comes from the Tony Macaroni on Saturday lunchtime as Livingston lock horns with Rangers.
After reaching the Europa League final and lifting the Scottish Cup last season, Rangers' main aim this time around will be to regain the league title which they relinquished to cross-city rivals Celtic last term.
The Teddy Bears are gearing up for their first full campaign under Giovanni van Bronckhorst and the Dutchman is slowly beginning to put his own stamp on his squad.
There have certainly been some encouraging signs during pre-season and the Gers boss will be eager to see his side hit the ground running in West Lothian this weekend.
After narrowly missing out on a top-six finish last season, Livingston will be looking to punch above their weight once more this time around.
There has been a fair bit of transfer activity at the Tony Macaroni over the summer and David Martindale will have been pleased to see his side navigate there way through their Premier Sports group stage section.
Outright Betting
Livingston have slumped to defeat in each of their four meetings with Rangers last season and the bookies' odds suggest that trend will continue this weekend, with a home win priced up at 7/1 with William Hill while the draw is an unfancied 18/5 BetVictor.
Rangers, who defeated Livi on the opening day of last season, head into their maiden league match of the campaign as 2/5 favourites with Bet 365.
Betting Angles
Rangers are too short to side with at the aforementioned odds so to nudge up the price I'll dip into the Bet Builder market and merge Rangers to win, under five match goals and over zero Livingston cards at 4/5 (Bet 365).
It goes without saying Giovanni van Bronckhorst will be determined to see his side get off to a winning start with a view to laying down an early marker to Old Firm foes Celtic.
While the Light Blues are capable of blowing teams away, it's worth noting that a sizeable 16 of their 18 top-flight triumphs under van Bronckhorst's tutorship have featured four goals of fewer.
What's more, Rangers will likely have one eye on their crunch Champions League third round qualifier first leg with Union Saint-Gilloise on Tuesday night.
As for Livingston, David Martindale has forged a resolute side that should be able to keep this respectable, with the Lions most likely to set up to contain and counter where possible, and perhaps even deploy the dark arts in an attempt to tame the Teddy Bears.
Martindale's' battle-hardened side averaged a league-high 2.5 yellow cards per-game in the Scottish Premiership last term and with that in mind, I'm happy to round off the 4/5 (Bet 365) Bet Builder with a minimum of one Livingston booking.
That train of thought could also see value lie with the 41/20 featured bet on offer with UniBet for Rangers to win, Rangers to take the most corners and Livingston to receive the most cards.
The above-mentioned combination clicked in each of the four meetings between the pair last season and I see no reason to oppose a repeat this weekend at a fairly generous price.
This Scottish Premiership match between Livingston and Rangers will be played on Jul 30, 2022 and kick off at 12:00. Check below for our tipsters best Livingston vs Rangers prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
