Rangers travel to Pittodrie on Sunday where they will face Aberdeen, with the hope of extending their impressive unbeaten record in the Scottish Premiership.
The Gers have won their last seven league matches on the road, while the Dons are unbeaten in their last six league games on home soil.
Match preview
© Reuters
Rangers overcame arch-rivals Celtic in the Old Firm derby last weekend, as Callum McGregor's own goal sealed a slender 1-0 victory at Ibrox.
The Gers extended their enormous lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to 19 points, although the Hoops do have three games in hand.
Steven Gerrard's men continue to impress as they remain unbeaten in the league this season, winning 20 of their 22 matches played and having won each of their last 14 league games, keeping 11 clean sheets in the process.
Rangers head into their match at Pittodrie unbeaten in their last seven league visits to Aberdeen since a 2-1 defeat in September 2016 under former boss Mark Warburton.
One player that the home side will have to keep an eye on is Rangers captain James Tavernier. Since the start of the 2017-18 season, the right-back's 10 league goals against Aberdeen are the most any player has scored against a single opponent in the Scottish Premiership.
Victory on Sunday would be Gerrard's 10th in the league on the road and would maintain the club's best ever start to a top-flight season after 23 matches.
© Reuters
Aberdeen extended their unbeaten run in the league to seven matches after a goalless draw at home to Dundee United last weekend.
Manager Derek McInnes was left to rue a "missed opportunity" in a game which his side dominated with 57% possession but failed to pose a real threat with only three of their 18 attempts on goal hitting the target.
The Dons have failed to score in five of their top-flight matches this campaign, two of which have been against the Tangerines, and McInnes is hoping that his side will not be "guilty of poor decision-making", as they were last weekend, in the weeks to come.
Aberdeen's 1-0 victory at Ibrox in 2018 has been their only triumph against the Gers in their last 13 league meetings.
The Dons will be pleased to be playing at Pittodrie this weekend as they have looked stronger on home soil where they have picked up a league-high 59% of their Scottish Premiership points this campaign – accumulating 23 out of a possible 29 points available.
McInnes hopes that his side can be the team to halt the league juggernauts and claim their 14th top-flight victory of the season, which could move them one point behind Celtic if they were to lose against Hibernian.
Aberdeen Scottish Premiership form: DWWDWD
Rangers Scottish Premiership form: WWWWWW
Rangers form (all competitions): LWWWWW
Team News
© Reuters
Aberdeen will be without midfielder Dylan McGeouch who is still suffering with a groin problem, while defender Michael Devlin (ankle) and forward Marley Watkins (hamstring) are also ruled out with injuries.
McInnes may decide to give starts to attackers Sam Cosgrove and Ryan Edmondson, who both came off the bench in the draw with Dundee United.
Gerrard has fears that midfielder Scott Arfield could be out for up to a month after sustaining ankle ligament damage against Hibernian on Boxing Day.
The Gers will also be without midfielder Ryan Jack, who is currently nursing a muscle injury, while defender Nikola Katic continues his period on the sidelines, but he could return to training at the end of this month.
Striker Kemar Roofe could be recalled to the starting lineup to play alongside Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent in attack.
Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Lewis; Hoban, Taylor, Considine; Hedges, Ferguson, McCrorie, Kennedy; Edmondson, Main, Cosgrove
Rangers possible starting lineup:
McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Barisic; Davis, Aribo, Kamara; Roofe, Morelos, Kent
We say: Aberdeen 0-2 Rangers
Aberdeen have failed to score in five of their last six meetings with Rangers and may struggle to find the net again this weekend against the league's strongest backline, which has only conceded five goals all season. The Gers are likely to dominate the match and should have enough quality to claim the three points on Sunday.
Top betting tip
Oliver Thomas
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 68.57%. A draw had a probability of 18.3% and a win for Aberdeen had a probability of 13.12%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rangers win was 0-2 with a probability of 11.12%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (9.87%) and 1-2 (9.73%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.63%), while for an Aberdeen win it was 1-0 (3.83%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Rangers would win this match.
