Rangers begin their pursuit of the Premiership title on Saturday night as they travel to North Lanarkshire to take on Motherwell at Fir Park live on Sky Sports.
Whilst this will be Russell Martin’s Scottish Premiership debut in charge of Rangers, he has already taken charge of two competitive fixtures as Gers boss, as he navigated his new side past Panathinaikos in their Champions League second round qualifier on Tuesday night.
After winning the first leg 2-0 at Ibrox last Tuesday, Rangers managed to nick a 1-1 draw in the sweltering heat of Athens on Tuesday night, on an evening where I landed a couple of corner bets.
That now sets up a tie with Czech side Viktoria Plzen in the next round, with the first leg at Ibrox on Tuesday, but their full focus must switch to their Premiership opener, in the type of fixture that they tended to drop points in last season.
Motherwell also come into this campaign with a new manager, as Jens Berthel Askou has replaced the departing Michael Wimmer.
It was a far from convincing start for the Dane, as they drew with Clyde and claimed narrow victories over Stranraer and Stenhousemuir to begin their League Cup campaign.
However, The Steelmen were far more convincing in their last outing, as they defeated Greenock Morton 3-0 at Fir Park to seal top spot in Group G, and set up a last-16 tie with St Johnstone.
How the bookies view it: Martin expected to make a winning start
As expected, Rangers come into this clash as favourites, with BoyleSports pricing up a Rangers victory at just 4/11.
A Motherwell win is a chunky 5/1, whilst the draw is 15/4, both with BoyleSports.
Head to head: Successive wins for The Steelmen?
Rangers won the opening two encounters between these two clubs last season, 2-1, firstly in the league and then secondly in the League Cup semi-final.
However, they dropped points in both of their next two clashes with Motherwell, as they had to come from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Fir Park, before losing 1-2 at Ibrox.
Players to watch: The Gassman in from the start?
New signing Djeidi Gassama has already paid back his transfer fee, as he came up with a couple of massive moments in both legs against Panathinaikos. The ex-Owls winger came off the bench and scored in both matches against the Greek side, and is 15/8 to repeat the feat at Fir Park on Saturday.
Tawanda Maswanhise has had a decent League Cup campaign, firing in four goals, including a brace against Morton last time out. The Zimbabwean also scored against Rangers at Fir Park last season, and is 7/2 at BoyleSports to do so again.
Predicted line-ups:
Motherwell will once again be expected to be without the injured duo of Jordan McGhee and Zach Robinson, but goalkeeper Aston Oxborough is available again.
Rangers were without Thelo Aasgaard and Hamza Igamane in Athens on Wednesday night, and Russell Martin will likely be without the pair at Fir Park on Saturday, whilst Djeidi Gassama will surely come in from the start for Kieran Dowell.
Motherwell: Oxborough, Koutroumbis, McGinn, Gordon, Longelo, Watt, Slattery, Fadinger, Maswanhise, Just, Stamateopolous
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Djiga, Aarons, Rothwell, Diomande, Raskin, Curtis, Gassama, Dessers
Anything else catch the eye?
I successfully backed Panathinaikos to rack up a few corners on Wednesday night against Rangers, and I see no reason to change my approach at Fir Park on Saturday night.
The Steelmen have racked up 27 corners across their previous three League Cup matches – albeit against lower league opposition – but I like the 9/10 on offer at Unibet for Motherwell just to earn four or more corners on Saturday.
Rangers have been extremely poor in the first half in both of their Champions League qualifiers against Panathinaikos, as well as in both friendlies with Club Brugge and Middlesbrough, so I like the look of Motherwell avoiding defeat in the first half.
Goals were a feature in this fixture last season, with Both Teams to Score & Over 2.5 Goals landing in all four encounters (2-1, 1-2, 2-2 & 1-2) – and given how both of these managers like their sides to play – the 10/11 at BoyleSports of a repeat here appeals to me.
GambleAware