Ibrox Stadium is the venue for Saturday’s Scottish Premiership fixture, as Rangers will take on Dundee. The home side would be looking to cement their place at the top of the league, while the away side moved out of the relegation zone in midweek. Can the Rangers continue their winning run against Dundee?
Rangers took their fourth successive victory in the midweek fixture against Hibernian. They are now undefeated in their last five matches and are placed at the top of the league table with 11 wins, three draws, and one loss in 15 matches. Since succeeding Steven Gerrard as the manager, Giovanni van Bronckhorst will undertake his first home league game match. Although they have been in impressive form this season, they have had difficulty in keeping clean sheets this season, specifically away from home. The 1-0 victory against Hibernian was their second clean sheet away from home. Kemar Roofe made his return from the injury in the midweek. Leon Balogun is set to miss out on the game. Calvin Bassey could be in contention for this match.
In the previous game against Hibernian, Kemar Roofe came off the bench to score a penalty in the 84th minute as the Rangers edged out the match 1-0. Rangers’ xG of 1.76 surpassed that of Hibernians’ 0.37. The Gers took more than thrice the number of shots as their opponents. Kemar Roofe had the highest xG. Aribo, Kent and Hagi took the joint-highest shots in the match (three). Kent also made the highest number of dribbles. Barisic won the highest number of aerial duels.
In terms of expected goals, Rangers are placed at the second spot in the league behind Celtic. In addition, they average more than one expected goal per match.
The win against St. Johnstone in the midweek was Dundee’s second win on the trot. Before the midweek win, they secured an impressive 3-0 victory against Motherwell at home. Dundee’s defensive record this season has been poor, as they have conceded the joint-highest goals in the league along with Ross County. Despite their defensive frailties, Dundee have managed to keep two back-to-back clean sheets. As a result, they have moved out of the relegation zone with four wins, four draws, and seven losses in 15 games. Dundee would be looking to take at least a point in their upcoming match against Rangers, a feat difficult to achieve. Although in their previous meeting, Dundee lost narrowly. Lee Ashcroft will miss out on the game as he is sidelined with a hamstring concern. Sheridan, Byrne, Jakubiak and McGhee are all set to miss out on the fixture as well.
In the previous game against St. Johnstone, Danny Mullen scored in the 38th minute to hand his side the advantage as Dundee secured a narrow 1-0 victory. They had the higher xG in the match and took more than twice the number of shots than their opponents. Charlie Adam had the highest xG in the match. He also made the highest number of passes to the final third.
Dundee are placed third in terms of successful defensive duels, while they average more than 38 successful defensive duels per match.
Predicted XI
Rangers (4-2-3-1): McGregor; Barisic, Bassey, Goldson, Tavernier; Davis, Kamara; Hagi, Aribo, Kent; Morelos.
Dundee (4-4-1-1): Legzdins; Kerr, Fontaine, Sweeney, Marshall; McMullan, Anderson, Adam, McCowan; McGowan; Mullen.
Prediction
Both teams have been in impressive form in their previous games, although Rangers should be able to secure three points against Dundee.
