The Scottish Premiership resumes on Thursday following the World Cup break, with title-chasing Rangers welcoming relegation-threatened Hibernian to Ibrox.
Having played 15 games, Rangers find themselves second in the table – nine points behind Celtic and eight points clear of Aberdeen.
🔙🏡 on Thursday 💙🎟️ If you can't attend the match against Hibernian you can use SeatSub to resale your ticket.👉 https://t.co/bftrHEKAP0 pic.twitter.com/cBcHqDKYEb— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) December 12, 2022
🔙🏡 on Thursday 💙🎟️ If you can't attend the match against Hibernian you can use SeatSub to resale your ticket.👉 https://t.co/bftrHEKAP0 pic.twitter.com/cBcHqDKYEb
At the opposite end of the standings, Hibs sit eighth – five points outside the relegation zone and 13 points behind Rangers. Can they cause an upset at Ibrox?
Let’s start by looking at the hosts, Rangers, who have lost just two of their 15 league this season, picking up ten wins and three draws in the process.
Not only do the Gers have the second-best defensive record in the division (14), but they also boast the second-best offensive record (34).
On Saturday, Rangers claimed an impressive 3-0 friendly victory over German side Bayer Leverkusen – with Malik Tillman bagging a brace.
Having claimed six wins in nine Premiership games in the lead-up to the World Cup break, Rangers will be confident of dispatching Hibernian.
As for Hibs, they have lost eight of their 16 Premiership matches this term – registering six wins and two draws along the way.
Only the bottom four teams have suffered more defeats than Hibs, while only Celtic and Aberdeen have recorded fewer draws.
Hibernian endured a seriously poor run of results before the World Cup, losing six of their seven Premiership games before the break.
Following heavy defeats to Celtic (6-1) and Aberdeen (4-1), Hibs will be desperate to forget about their pre-World Cup form and start a fresh on Thursday.
Head-to-head: Remarkably, Hibernian have only managed to win one of their previous 17 meetings with Rangers across all competitions.
The Gers have won ten of the past 13 meetings between the two sides, keeping six clean sheets in the process.
Team news: Rangers’ lengthy injury list features Connor Goldson, Ianis Hagi, Filip Helander, Tom Lawrence, Nnamdi Ofoborh, Kemar Roofe and John Souttar.
Meanwhile, Hibs look set to be without the inured quartet of Momodou Bojang, Jake Doyle-Hayes, Aiden McGeady and Lewis Miller on Thursday.
When you look at the 13-point gulf between high-flying Rangers and struggling Hibs, all the signs point towards a comfortable home victory on Thursday.
Forebet predicts that Rangers will score over 2.5 goals on their way to crushing Hibs. On top of that, the hosts are expected to keep a clean sheet.