RANGERS will look to ensure they remain hot on the heels of Celtic when they square off with Aberdeen at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership on Tuesday night.
After ending 2023 with a 2-1 defeat at Celtic Park, the Light Blues have bounced back in admirable style with five wins on the spin across all competitions.
The most recent of those victories came against Livingston on Saturday and that success coupled with Celtic's stumble at Aberdeen means Philippe Clement's side are now three points behind their fierce rivals with a game in hand.
In fact, Rangers could move to the summit of the standings – at least temporarily – if they can topple old foes Aberdeen by three goals or more at Ibrox this midweek.
Following Barry Robson's dismissal last week, the Dons put in a spirited display to earn a 1-1 draw against Celtic on Saturday, in a game that saw another one of my player-based bets pocket profit at Pittodrie.
With Neil Warnock set to be named as Aberdeen's interim manager on Monday, the 75-year-old veteran could well be in the dugout in Glasgow on Tuesday night.
Outright Betting
Rangers, who have won all seven of their Scottish Premiership home games since appointing Philippe Clement, are odds on 2/7 (Bet 365) favourites to claim top honours on Tuesday night.
Aberdeen emerged victorious from Ibrox earlier this season but they are as big as 11/1 (Ladbrokes) to repeat the feat here while the draw is an unfancied 5/1 (PaddyPower).
Betting Angles
While Aberdeen will be buoyed by their stalemate with Celtic on Saturday as well the reported arrival of Neil Warnock, it's going to be a very tall order for the visitors to get anything from this match.
However, with the home team unbackable at the above-mentioned price, I'll head to the Bet Builder and merge Rangers to Win, Under 4.5 Goals & Over 2,5 Match Cards at 51/50 with Bet Victor.
Rangers have been more efficient than emphatic in their displays under Philippe Clement's tutorship and I expect that trend to continue when Aberdeen come to town this midweek.
The Belgian has steered the Light Blues to 13 wins from 15 in the Scottish Premiership since taking the reins in October, with 12 of those successes featuring four match goals or fewer.
Despite their underperformance this season so far, Aberdeen showed against Celtic they are capable of keeping contests with the Old Firm competitive, so another tight affair could be in store here, as was the case when the pair met in the Scottish League Cup final less than two months ago.
Rangers ran out 1-0 winners in that Hampden showpiece and they can eke out another narrow victory against their Granite City guests on Tuesday night.
Given that sparks tend to fly when these two rivals do battle, I'll round off the Bet Builder with a minimum of three match cards.
Each of the previous three dust-up's between the duo this season have generated at least three bookings and I see no reason to oppose a repeat here, especially with Aberdeen likely to be fired up by new boss Warnock.
In fact, with that in mind, I'll also have a small play on this Tuesday night tussle featuring a red card at 9/2 with Bet 365.
It is not uncommon to see tensions boil over when these teams lock horns and all of the necessary ingredients appear to be in place for a hard-hitting contest under the Govan lights.
This Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and Aberdeen will be played on Feb 7, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Rangers vs Aberdeen prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
