Seeking to bounce back from their midweek defeat in Europe, Rangers will welcome newly-promoted Kilmarnock to Ibrox for their first Scottish Premiership home match of the 2022-23 season on Saturday.
The visitors, meanwhile, will be hoping to follow up last weekend's draw against Dundee United with another resilient performance in Glasgow.
Match preview
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After coming from behind to beat Livingston 2-1 on the opening weekend of the Scottish Premiership, Rangers suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Union SG in the first leg of their Champions League third-round qualifier on Tuesday.
A deflected strike from Teddy Teuma opened the scoring for the Belgian hosts in the 27th minute, before Connor Goldson was deemed to have handled the ball inside the area, with Dante Vanzeir converting the resulting penalty kick with 15 minutes remaining.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst claimed that too many of his players performed below par and admitted that his side were "lucky" to have lost by only a two-goal margin.
Before attempting to turn the tie around in Glasgow next Tuesday, Rangers will now focus on Saturday's league encounter with Kilmarnock, with the Ibrox faithful expecting a much-improved performance.
The Gers should be confident of returning to winning ways as they have won five of their last six meetings with Kilmarnock, keeping a clean sheet on four of those occasions.
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Kilmarnock managed to rescue a 1-1 draw in their opening Premiership match of the new season at home to Dundee United last weekend.
The visitors headed into half time with a slender advantage courtesy of a strike from Dylan Levitt, but the second-half dismissal of Ian Harkes favoured the hosts who netted a dramatic 91st-minute equaliser through centre-back Ash Taylor.
Derek McInnes, who guided Killie to the Championship title last season at the first attempt, is now preparing his side for back-to-back games against Glaswegian giants Rangers and Celtic, with his team heading into both fixtures as major underdogs.
As a manager, McInnes has a poor record against the Gers, winning only six of his 30 encounters against them, including just four in the Premiership.
Kilmarnock will be looking to take a major scalp this weekend and win their first game at Ibrox since March 2018, when Kris Boyd – who made over 200 appearances for both clubs during his career – scored the only goal of the game for the East Ayrshire outfit.
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Team News
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Rangers boss Van Bronckhorst is hoping that Ryan Kent will return from a minor ankle injury, while John Souttar is doubtful as he is set to undergo tests on an unspecified "problem".
Ianis Hagi remains sidelined with a long-term knee injury, while forwards Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe are also ruled out with respective thigh and calf issues.
Van Bronckhorst opted to start Tuesday's game with a back three, which saw James Sands and John Lundstram line up alongside Goldson. However, the Gers are set to revert to a four-man defence on Saturday, which could see summer signing Ben Davies handed his first start for the club.
Antonio Colak is expected to lead the line again, while Tom Lawrence and Scott Wright will be hoping to force their way into the first XI after beginning on the bench in midweek.
As for Kilmarnock, on-loan Middlesbrough goalkeeper Zach Hemmings has returned to his parent club for the time being to recover from a groin injury, while Chris Stokes remains sidelined with a hamstring problem.
McInnes is set to stick with the 3-5-2 formation that he used last weekend, with Ryan Alebiosu and Kerr McInroy providing width for his side as wing-backs.
Former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty made his first appearance of the season last weekend after recovering from injury, and the 34-year-old is expected to start in attack on Saturday alongside Oli Shaw.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
McLaughlin; Tavernier, Goldson, Davies, Barisic; Lundstram, Jack, Kamara; Wright, Colak, Lawrence
Kilmarnock possible starting lineup:
Walker; Wright, Taylor, Mayo; Alebiosu, McKenzie, Power, Polworth, McInroy; Shaw, Lafferty
We say: Rangers 2-0 Kilmarnock
The pressure will be on Rangers in front of a packed-out Ibrox to respond to their disappointing midweek defeat and claim maximum points in their first home game of the new season.
Kilmarnock will be keen to have their say in the contest, but we can see the hosts coming away with a routine victory in Glasgow.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
