On Saturday afternoon, the 2020/21 SPL season kicks off, as Aberdeen host Rangers at Pittodrie, as both teams look to make winning starts to the new league campaign.
As we all know last season’s SPL campaign was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Aberdeen finish fourth-place in the table and claim a spot in the Europa League qualifying rounds.
Derek McInnes’ team may have finished higher in the Scottish top-flight table if it were not for a highly inconsistent end to the season. The home side won just two of their final ten league clashes. They did pick up four points from their last two SPL games of the season, though.
Aberdeen will need to improve their home form this season if they are to bag a higher-finish higher in the table, as the Dons won just one of their previous five league matches on home soil.
To make matters worse Aberdeen also lost four of those five winless matches at Pittodrie.
Rangers finished second in the table beyond perennial champions and arch-rivals Celtic, 13 points adrift of the Hoops, although Steven Gerrard’s team did have a game in-hand.
The visitors main goal is to bridge the gap to their arch-rivals this season. The Gers’ main long-term target is to win the SPL and end Celtic’s nine-year spell of dominance of the SPL.
Gerrard’s team have enjoyed a strong pre-season, with victories over Lyon, Nice, Motherwell and Coventry, all without conceding a goal. They are also still in the Europa League, where the Gers’ are 3-1 down heading into the second leg of their last-16 tie on Thursday evening.
Rangers are certainly the favourites to win this opening game of the campaign. Therefore, it is no surprise that Forebet predicts that Gerrard’s team will record a victory in a high-scoring encounter.