Preview: Rangers vs St Mirren - prediction, team news, lineups

Rangers welcome reigning champions St Mirren to Ibrox Stadium on Sunday afternoon for their second round clash in the Scottish League Cup.

The hosts are yet to win a match in 2026-27, while the visitors head into the encounter with wins in each of their last two games.

Match preview

Rangers had high hopes heading into 2026-27 after poaching manager Derek McInnes from Hearts, who narrowly missed out on a historic Scottish Premiership title triumph last season.

Alongside the additions of Lawrence Shankland, Dan Neil, Cameron Devlin and several others, Rangers looked to be in a position of strength heading into the new campaign.

However, the Gers have subsequently endured a miserable start to the season, failing to win any of their first four competitive fixtures across all competitions.

Rangers have drawn one and lost one of their two Scottish Premiership fixtures, while they also suffered a shock elimination from the Europa League qualifiers against Jagiellonia Bialystok, losing 3-2 on aggregate.

Desperate to end their wait for a first competitive triumph under McInnes and get their season up and running, Rangers will be full of motivation heading into this Scottish League Cup fixture at their home ground.

St Mirren, however, will look to make it difficult for their hosts, and the visitors are certainly the team in stronger standing heading into the encounter.

St Mirren have impressively won five and lost just one of their six matches at the start of 2026-27, scoring 15 and conceding just four goals during that superb run.

Craig McLeish's side have, admittedly, yet to face a top-tier opposition in any of their six matches across the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Premiership, leaving Sunday as their biggest test of the campaign thus far.

While the Saints will have to overcome a disappointing recent record if they are to progress past Rangers, having lost each of their last two meetings, they will draw confidence from last year's stunning Scottish League Cup title triumph.

The defending champions remarkably defeated Hearts, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Celtic en route to lifting the Scottish League Cup last season, and they will be desperate to move one step closer to keeping their hands on the trophy for another year.

Rangers form (all competitions):

St Mirren Scottish League Cup form:

St Mirren form (all competitions):

Team News

Rangers will be unable to call upon Youssef Chermiti, Jose Cifuentes and Ben Godfrey for this match due to ongoing injury issues, while Thelo Aasgaard is a doubt after coming off at half-time in midweek.

Captain Shankland scored his first competitive goal for Rangers in midweek, and the striker will be hoping to help lead the Gers to their first victory of the season on Sunday.

St Mirren are contending with the absences of Jonah Ayunga, Keanu Baccus and Ryan Mullen due to injury, while Marcus Fraser is a doubt to feature.

McLeish's side have won each of their last two matches and the manager may, therefore, opt to name a largely unchanged side, although Liam Donnelly should replace Fraser in defence.

Rangers possible starting lineup:

Pandur; Sterling, Fernandez, Makhanya, Rommens; Yokota, Neil, Devlin, Curtis; Shankland, Naderi

St Mirren possible starting lineup:

Chapman; Richardson, Donnelly, Gogic, John; Carr, Nsio; Ramos, Phillips, Mochrie; Sule

We say: Rangers 2-1 St Mirren

Rangers may be experiencing a miserable start to the campaign, while the defending champions St Mirren will be full of confidence given their positive start, but the Gers remain the stronger team on paper and will be expected to claim the win.

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