Preview: Rangers vs Hibernian - prediction, team news, lineups

Rangers and Hibernian will battle it out at Ibrox Stadium on Sunday in their matchday two clash in the Scottish Premiership.

The hosts drew their opening match 1-1 with Dundee United, while the visitors were defeated 2-1 by Motherwell in their first league fixture.

Match preview

Rangers experienced a largely disappointing 2025-26 campaign, eventually finishing third in the league and a significant 10 points behind rivals Celtic, who lifted their 56th league title - one more than the Gers' 55.

Manager Danny Rohl departed at the end of the campaign to join Red Bull Salzburg, with former Hearts manager Derek McInnes - who devastatingly lost the league title to Celtic on the final day of last season - subsequently appointed at Ibrox.

McInnes, who was joined by Lawrence Shankland and Cameron Devlin from Tynecastle, won against Saint-Etienne (2-1) and drew with West Ham United (0-0) during an encouraging pre-season, but their start to the 2026-27 campaign has been far from positive.

Rangers had to come from behind to take a point from Dundee United in their first match of the Scottish Premiership season, drawing 1-1, before the Gers suffered a miserable 2-1 loss to Jagiellonia Bialystok in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie.

Before fighting to overturn that defeat in the second leg at Ibrox, Rangers will first focus on securing their first win of the season when they take on Hibernian, who they lost to 2-1 in their last encounter at Ibrox.

Hibernian have endured a mixed start to the 2026-27 season, winning two and losing two of their opening four fixtures across all competitions.

David Gray's side, who finished fifth last season and secured their spot in the Conference League qualifiers thanks to Celtic's Scottish FA Cup triumph, suffered a shock 2-0 Conference League second qualifying round first-leg defeat to Malisheva in their first game of the term.

Hibs did superbly bounce back and win the tie 4-3 on aggregate thanks to a 4-1 second-leg win, but they failed to build on that triumph in their first game of the league term, losing 2-1 to Motherwell after conceding an 85th-minute winner.

However, Hibernian once again rebounded with a win in their next game, defeating Shkendija 2-1 in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie, and they will now aim to record back-to-back wins for the first time this term - and secure their first points of the Scottish Premiership season - when they face Rangers.

Rangers Scottish Premiership form:

Rangers form (all competitions):

Hibernian Scottish Premiership form:

Hibernian form (all competitions):

Team News

Rangers will be unable to call upon the services of Connor Barron (knee) and Jose Cifuentes (knee) due to ongoing injury issues, while Ben Godfrey is a doubt after picking up an injury in their opening game.

McInnes is likely to rotate his team following their disappointing loss to Jagiellonia Bialystok, meaning the likes of Nicolas Raskin, Findlay Curtis, Devlin and Shankland could come into the starting lineup on Sunday.

Hibernian are set to continue without Nicky Cadden (calf), Jamie McGrath (calf) and Rocky Bushiri (Achilles tendon) due to injury concerns.

Owen Elding has scored two goals in his last three games, and the forward should continue alongside Nathan Lowe and Martin Boyle in attack.

Rangers possible starting lineup:

Pandur; Sterling, McCrorie, Fernandez, Rommens; Devlin, Raskin; Curtis, Aasgaard, Diomande; Shankland

Hibernian possible starting lineup:

Sallinger; O'Hora, Kerr, Obita; Passlack, Mulligan, Chaiwa, Mayor; Elding, Lowe, Boyle

We say: Rangers 1-1 Hibernian

Both teams have endured mixed starts to the 2026-27 season and both will be eager to secure their first win of the Scottish Premiership term, leading us to expect a hard-fought encounter that ultimately ends all square.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.