Rangers welcome struggling Ross County to Ibrox this Saturday afternoon, with the men from Govan looking to get back to winning ways after being held to a draw by Motherwell last weekend.

Ross County will feel confident after their emphatic home win over Aberdeen last weekend, and they are sure to need it given that the Gers are now unbeaten in 11 home league games.

Match preview

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard pictured on January 2, 2021 © Reuters

Steven Gerrard will have been frustrated at his team's draw at Motherwell, but Rangers worked hard to come back from a goal down to secure what could be an important point in the long term.

Substitute Cedric Itten headed home an equaliser 18 minutes from time, and it was a crucial goal given that the Gers' title rivals Celtic were held to a draw by Livingston in midweek.

The Gers now have a 20-point lead over the Bhoys at the top of the table, though their fierce rivals from the East End of Glasgow do have two games in hand.

The Light Blues can certainly take heart from their recent record against Ross County, having won their last eight games in all competitions against the Staggies. They have kept a clean sheet in five of those victories.

They have also won their last 11 home matches in the Premiership and have kept a clean sheet in 10 of those, so County might find scoring goals something of a problem this weekend.

Rangers have previously responded well to draws this season, beating Kilmarnock 2-0 and Willem II 4-0 after disappointing league draws, and the Ibrox faithful will want to see a similarly positive reaction on Saturday.

That makes this a testing trip for John Hughes and his Ross County players, but the former Hibernian striker made some changes to his side last week and was rewarded with a fine 4-1 home win over Aberdeen.

The Staggies had only won once in their last 11 games in all competitions, so Hughes's decision to make five changes to his team was certainly justified.

Alex Iacovitti was switched to centre back, lining up alongside Callum Morris, with Connor Randall starting at left back. Keith Watson dropped to the bench and Coll Donaldson was dropped from the matchday squad completely.

Rangers loanee Stephen Kelly was also dropped to the bench, while wingers Jermaine Hylton and Regan Charles-Cook added more attacking threat out wide.

That reshuffle certainly brought rewards, but the challenge for Hughes and his squad is now to back up that win over the Dons with another good performance against the league leaders.

The last time County faced Rangers was in the Premiership on December 6 at Dingwall, and they were beaten 4-0 that day so Hughes will want to avoid a repeat performance.

Rangers Scottish Premiership form: WWWWWD

Ross County Scottish Premiership form: LLLDLW

Team News

Rangers forward Cedric Itten celebrates scoring against Lech Poznan in the Europa League on December 10, 2020 © Reuters

Cedric Itten could retain his place in attack at the expense of Alfredo Morelos after his midweek equaliser, while Scott Arfield is sidelined with an ankle injury.

Scotland international Ryan Jack is ready to make a comeback from his knee injury, but it looks likely that Gerrard will continue with the midfield combination of Glen Kamara, Steven Davis and Joe Aribo.

Kemar Roofe is close to recovering from the hamstring injury he sustained against Celtic on January 2, and he could figure in the squad on Saturday.

For the Staggies, Blair Spittal and Tom Grivosti are out with hamstring injuries that they picked up in November.

Hughes is likely to stick with the side that performed so well against Aberdeen as the Staggies search for some consistency.

Rangers possible starting lineup:
McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Barisic; Aribo, Davis, Kamara; Hagi, Kent; Itten

Ross County possible starting lineup:
Laidlaw; Naismith, Morris, Iacovitti, Randall; Charles-Cook, Paton, Vigurs, Lakin, Hylton; Shaw

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We say: Rangers 3-0 Ross County

Despite the Staggies' fine result against Aberdeen last weekend, history is not on their side when it comes to visiting Ibrox.

They are also facing a Rangers team that will be desperate to get back to winning ways and exploit Celtic's current woes, so we anticipate a 3-0 win for the Light Blues.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Rangers win with a probability of 86%. A draw had a probability of 10.1% and a win for Ross County had a probability of 3.92%.

The most likely scoreline for a Rangers win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.9%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (13.56%) and 4-0 (9.92%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (4.77%), while for a Ross County win it was 0-1 (1.63%). The actual scoreline of 5-0 was predicted with a 5.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Rangers would win this match.