Rangers will look to end this season on a high when they face Ross County in the second-last match of their Scottish Premiership season. The defending champions are six points behind league leaders, Celtic. But with only two games remaining, the title has already gone from their hand. Ross County are sixth in the league table and are winless in the last three games. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams, with Rangers winning two, and the previous meeting ending in a 3-3 draw.
The defending champions won their 25th match of the season against Dundee United. They have lost eight and drawn the remaining three matches. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men have found the back of the net 73 times with an xG rate of 75.36. In return, they have conceded 29 goals with an xGA rate of 27.01.
When looking at the above chart, the general rule is that the longer the bar, the better the performance — you can see the league average in the middle, and the % is the percentile rank the player is in. Rangers have been the second-best team in the league this season. They have a high percentile rank in almost every stat given above. Notably, the team is strong in the air and has won most of their aerial duels.
Except for the penalty spot, the above map depicts all of Rangers’ attempts from set-pieces. From inside the opposition’s penalty area, the host team has scored a few goals. Rangers have tried 638 shots in all, averaging 16.6 attempts per 90 minutes. So far, the team has struck the target 225 times. A total of 412 shots were fired from inside the opponent’s penalty box, with 164 of them finding the target.
Rangers are likely to go with the same lineup that they played with in the last game. Joe Aribo missed the last game due to a concussion, and the midfielder is likely to remain sidelined for this match too. Aaron Ramsey also got a start in the last match after recovering from a hamstring injury. He could once again start the match, with Fashion Sakala leading the line.
Ross County have won ten, lost 11, and drawn the remaining 11 matches this season. With an xG rating of 39.00, the visitors have scored 45 goals. The opposition has scored 55 goals against them and have a 52.66 xGA%.
The visitors have struggled to perform this season and have a very low percentile rank. Only their defence is rated highly amongst other teams in the league. Ross County have failed to keep hold of the ball and, therefore, have a low percentile rank.
As observed from the above figure, the visitors have reached double figures for scoring goals from set-pieces. They have attempted the third-lowest number of shots in the league. Only 314 shots have been attempted, and 132 were on target. Ross County have attempted 180 shots from inside the opposition’s penalty box, and 85 of them have hit the target. They have a high shot accuracy rate when it comes to attempting shots from inside the box.
Ross County goalkeeper, Ashley Maynard-Brewer, has been ruled out for the rest of the season and is likely to be replaced by Ross Laidlaw. The manager is expected to start his strongest XI against the defending champions.
Rangers are expected to earn a comfortable victory over their opponents, Ross County. The visitors will look to end this season high by taking maximum points against the defending champions.
