Two clubs who made disappointing starts to their Scottish Premiership campaigns meet at Ibrox on Saturday night as Rangers take on Dundee.
For the third season in a row, Rangers dropped points on the opening day of the Premiership season, as a late Emmanuel Longelo goal earned Motherwell a well-deserved point at Fir Park last Saturday.
Russell Martin drew a lot of headlines from his comments about the players' mentality in his post-match interview after the match, and decided to drop captain James Tavernier, Nico Raskin, Kieran Dowell and Danilo for the first leg of their third round Champions League qualifier against Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday night.
That decision proved to be a correct one, as Rangers put in easily their best performance under Martin, cruising to a 3-0 victory against the Czech side on an evening where two of my selections came in.
Steven Pressley is a man already under pressure, as they failed to qualify from their League Cup group following defeats against Airdrieonians and Alloa Athletic.
Despite only losing by a one-goal margin, The Dark Blues were well beaten in their Premiership opener at home to Hibs last Sunday, on an afternoon where our man SlipsTips also landed a couple of winners.
How the bookies view it: Gers clear favourites
Unsurprisingly, Rangers have been installed as clear favourites to grab their first Premiership victory of the campaign, with BoyleSports pricing them at just 1/7.
A shock Dundee win is chalked up at 14/1 with the same firm, whilst the draw is 13/2.
Head to head: Gers dominance over The Dark Blues
Rangers are unbeaten in each of their past 17 meetings with Dundee, winning 14 of them (W14-D3-L0).
What’s more, The Teddy Bears have been victorious in each of their previous 19 meetings with Dundee at Ibrox.
Players to watch: Gassman to deliver again?
New signing Djeidi Gassama has already made an immediate impact for Rangers, as he scored in both legs against Panathinaikos. I flagged up the ex-Owls winger to score on Tuesday night (3/1) and he did so twice, and appeals to me at BoyleSports (6/5) to find the target again.
Another new Gers signing, Lyall Cameron, came in from the start on Tuesday night and was absolutely terrific, receiving a warm reception when he got subbed off in the final quarter of an hour. Some of his comments in his interviews regarding his old side haven’t gone down too well with The Dark Blues support this week, and it would be typical if he were to get on the scoresheet on Saturday.
Predicted line-ups:
Thelo Aasgaard and Hamza Igamane missed recent matches against Panathinaikos, Motherwell and Viktoria Plzen, and the pair are expected to be missing again on Saturday.
Dundee will be without midfielder Cesar Garza after suffering a concussion in their defeat against Hibs last week, whilst Pressley will be hoping to have Simon Murray back after missing the game last Sunday.
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Djiga, Jefte, Rothwell, Diomande, Cameron, Antman, Gassama, Dessers
Dundee: McCracken, Ingram, Astley, Robertson, Graham, Samuels, Digby, Jones, Robertson, Hay, Acquah
Anything else catch the eye?
As is always the case when either of the Old Firm are at home to a side expected to finish in the bottom half of the Premiership table, finding value is hard.
As alluded to, The Teddy Bears have won each of their previous 19 meetings with Dundee at Ibrox, and they will blow away The Dark Blues if they play with a similar performance to the one they did against Viktoria Plzen in Europe on Tuesday night.
Rangers to Win & Over 3.5 Goals has paid out in four of the previous eight meetings between the pair, including in their last clash, which Rangers won 3-4 at Dens Park in dramatic circumstances, and a repeat here pays 11/10 at BoyleSports.
GambleAware