Rangers take on Hearts in the third round of matches in the 2017/18 Scottish Premiership season. Rangers are heavily favoured for the victory here, although Hearts may have a new lease of life following their win last weekend. That could make for an intriguing and close fixture here.
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Rangers
HeartsRangers
Rangers suffered the humiliation of losing to Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg in the Europa League qualifying rounds, which ended their hopes of playing in the group stage and left their build up to the new season in tatters.
They bounced back though and got an opening day 2-1 victory at Motherwell to take maximum points. That was followed with a dominating performance in the Scottish League Cup, where they brushed Dunfermline aside with a 6-0 win.
Their first home league match of the season, against Hibernian, started well as Rangers took the lead after just three minutes. However, it soon went wrong and they ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline.
Defeat in that match is a big dent to their title aspirations and they will want to bounce back with a convincing victory here.
Hearts
Hearts also suffered their fair share of embarrassment in the early stages of this season, being the only top-flight team knocked out of the Scottish League Cup at the group stage.
That disappointment was followed by a managerial change but their league season got off to a poor start with a 4-1 loss at champions Celtic.
They finally got their season back on track last weekend, with a hard-fought 1-0 win away at Kilmarnock. It put their first points on the board and they will hope it will be the kickstart they required to mount a challenge for a place in Europe this season.
Recent League Form (most recent first)
Rangers – LW
Hearts – WL
Head to Head
In 80 meetings since 1994, Rangers have won 52 times. Hearts have 15 victories, and the other 13 have been draws. It’s all level in the five most recent meetings, with two wins apiece and one draw. Last season, they played each other four times with the home team winning on each occasion. Hearts won 2-0 and 4-1 at Tynecastle, with Rangers winning 2-0 and 2-1 at Ibrox.
Betting Odds and Predictions
Ladbrokes have Rangers priced at 4/6, with Hearts at 4/1. The draw is 29/10, and could be the best bet of the three considering that both teams have performed below-par this season but are capable of beating anyone on their day.
Both teams have scored in four of the last six meetings, and we think both will find a way to score here. Both Teams to Score is priced at 8/11, and looks to be a banker.
The number of goals in matches between these sides varies, but the last thirteen have each had at least two goals scored in them. Therefore, Over 1.5 Goals looks an almost certainty at odds of 2/9.
We think this is going to be a hard-fought contest with both teams having chances, and getting on the scoresheet. However, we aren’t confident of picking a winner here and could find reasons for choosing both.
Top Betting Tip
Our top betting tip for this match is Both Teams to Score, at odds of 8/11 with Ladbrokes.