Rangers vs St Mirren – Preview, Lineups, Key Men And Score Prediction | OneFootball

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Rangers welcome St Mirren to Ibrox on Wednesday evening looking to continue their momentum in the Scottish Premiership.

The Gers have now been able to bring some sanity back to their season following a turbulent start. With the pressure of Europe now off their shoulders, Derek McInnes’ team have started to find some rhythm, a reflection of which is the three straight wins in their last three matches.

In the process, the former Hearts manager has also been able to ease the pressure that had been forced upon him following first the Europa League and then the Conference League exits. While this time last year, Rangers were languishing in a lowly tenth position in the league table, and were staring down the barrel with no immediate solution in sight, they are in a much better situation right now.

While there is still some way to go to catch up with league leaders Celtic, steps have been taken in the right direction.

However, midweek games can often be tricky. After playing on Saturday and only managing a hard-fought 1-0 win against Motherwell, the players will have only limited recovery time before they are forced to take to the pitch once again against St Mirren.

Early signs for Craig McLeish’s team have been nothing but positive. Five matches in, St Mirren find themselves third in the league table, just above the Glasgow giants. Though their last match dented the positive momentum somewhat, it was against the defending champions Celtic, who are the strongest team in the country right now.

Rangers will take confidence from the fact that they have already beaten St Mirren once this season and that win was quite a notable one. 5-1 was the scoreline in favour of Wednesday’s home team when the two sides met earlier in the season in the second round of the Scottish League Cup.

Having lost Lawrence Shankland to injury though, there are questions over who can put their hand up to lead the line, something rated as a less than ideal situation for new boy Kevin Kelsy.

McInnes’ summer business is still in the process of being tested and St Mirren will provide another examination under the Ibrox lights.

Predicted Lineups

Recent Form (league)

Rangers: WWWLD St Mirren: LWDWW

Key Men

Rangers

Replacing their main striker Shankland after just eight minutes, 23-year-old German striker Ryan Naderi was able to score his first league goal against Motherwell on Saturday.

With his options limited, McInnes is expected to put faith in Naderi once again on Wednesday and he can capitalise. The 23-year-old has been tipped to have a bright future ahead of him and former star Gordon Dalziel even backed him to become the first-choice striker under former boss Danny Rohl.

Kelsy will have something to say about that, but Naderi is well placed to make his case.

With the two full-backs there to support him, the six feet four inch striker can offer his head as the target and can direct the crosses towards the goal.

Dujon Sterling created as many as three chances from the right side of the pitch on Saturday. He can offer pace on counter-attack and can be equally adept at defending crosses on the other side of the pitch.

He has years of experience behind his back and can make good use of that to get the better of his St Mirren counterparts.

The combination between himself and Naderi could prove to be match-winning on the night.

St Mirren

For St Mirren to have any chance of getting points from Ibrox, their skipper Alex Gogic will have a significant role to play. At 32, he has more experience than most other players on the pitch and can make good use of it to secure a clean sheet for St Mirren.

With crosses coming in, Gogic will have to keep a clam head on his shoulders and go on countering the aerial threat posed by players such as Naderi.

Newly-bought German striker Nikolas Agrafiotis could be asked to fill in to replace the injury-returnee Killian Phillips. He is as much of an aerial presence as Rangers’ Naderi and can be their own target man against the team that are expected to dominate possession inside their own stadium in front of a packed crowd.

Match Prediction

After spending heavily in the summer transfer market, former Scotland international Andy Walker has warned McInnes about facing the consequences if Rangers are not in the title mix in the Scottish Premiership title.

That job will continue against St Mirren on Wednesday. A number of the new signings are expected to feature either from the start or later on and fans will have the chance to see what they have to offer.

No matter how good a team St Mirren are, they are definitely going to struggle to cope with the constant pressure Rangers put on them.

St Mirren though may back themselves to find out if Rangers’ recent improvement is built on solid foundations or on sand.

Inside Futbol Score Prediction

Rangers 3-0 St Mirren

Where To Watch?

Rangers vs St Mirren is not being broadcast live in the UK, but can be followed on Rangers TV with audio commentary.