Rangers will look to continue their quest to qualify for the Champions League league phase as they welcome Czech side Viktoria Plzen to Ibrox in the first leg of their third round qualifier.
Rangers navigated their way past Panathinaikos in the previous round, defeating the Greek side 3-1 on aggregate.
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.
However, Russell Martin’s side dropped points in their Premiership opener at Fir Park at the weekend, as a late Emmanuel Longelo goal earned Motherwell a well-deserved point.
Despite losing the first leg 0-1 at home and going down 1-0 after just four minutes in the second leg, Viktoria Plzen managed to get past Servette in the previous round, as a late Rafiu Durosinmi penalty earned the Czech side a 3-2 aggregate success on an evening where our man The Bettimg Desk landed a full-house of winners.
Miroslav Koubek’s visitors have taken four points from their opening two fixtures of their domestic campaign, but got the weekend off as their match with Mlada Boleslav was postponed.
How the bookies view it: Gers favourites
Rangers are favourites to take a first leg lead to Czechia next week, with BoyleSports pricing them up at just 8/11.
Viktoria Plzen are an eye-catching 3/1 at BoyleSports to leave Govan with all three points, whilst the draw is 11/4.
Head to head: First-ever meeting
This is the first-ever meeting between these two clubs.
Players to watch: Gassman to deliver in Europe again?
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 will be worth keeping an eye on in the goalscoring markers when odds are released.
Ex-Burnley and Watford frontman Matej Vydra has already scored four goals across Plzen’s opening four competitive contests this campaign. One of those levelled up the tie with Servette in the last round, and is Plzen’s best bet for a goal.
Predicted line-ups:
Rangers were without Thelo Aasgaard and Hamza Igamane in Athens on Wednesday night and at Fir Park on Saturday, and the duo will likely be missing again in Glasgow on Tuesday night.
Viktoria Plzen will be without midfielder Adrian Zeljkovic following his red card in Switzerland last week.
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Djiga, Aarons, Rothwell, Diomande, Raskin, Curtis, Gassama, Dessers
Viktoria Plzen: Wiegele, Dweh, Markovic, Jemelka, Havel, Memic, Cerv, Spacil, Visinsky, Vydra, Durosinmi
Anything else catch the eye?
Rangers kept a clean sheet in their home clash with Panathinaikos, but that was only due to the performance of Jack Butland and the Greek side's wastefulness in front of goal.
Both Teams to Score has paid out in each of The Gers' other two competitive clashes this term – and given the same has also landed in 3/4 (75%) of Plzen’s fixtures this season – I like the look of the 17/20 at Unibet on both of these sides getting on the scoresheet.
Over 2.5 Goals also landed in Plzen’s away leg with Servette in the previous round, and I also like the 4/5 on offer at BoyleSports on there being a minimum of three strikes.
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