Rangers vs St Johnstone 13/08/20

13 August 2020

High-flying Rangers welcome a tough St Johnstone side to Ibrox Stadium for a potentially high-scoring Scottish Premiership affair. Five of their last six competitive H2Hs held at this venue have seen both teams score, with four producing over 3.5 goals.

Ranges got off to a flying start to their new league campaign, winning both of their opening Premiership fixtures ‘to nil.’ Quick out of the blocks, the ‘Gers’ broke the deadlock inside the opening 25 minutes of play on both of those occasions. The ‘clean-sheet’ theme has frequently played a vital role in terms of the Rangers’ home results this calendar year. Indeed, six of their nine home results (wins/losses) in all competitions since the turn of 2020 have seen the winner on the day preserve a blank sheet (W6, L2). Also, the hosts’ recent competitive home matches have been notably tight, with five of Rangers’ last seven seeing the sides separated by a full-time margin of under 1.5 goals (W4, D1, L2).

As for the visitors, they’ve avoided defeat in both of their opening league matches this term (W1, D1), with each featuring under 1.5 first-half goals and less than three at full-time. Taking into the equation St Johnstone’s results from the final stretch of the last season, the ‘Saints’ are unbeaten in eight consecutive league fixtures (W3, D5), with each of those three victories yielding a narrow one-goal margin. However, Callum Davidson’s side will have to go beyond their limits to extend that run, as they now take on a team they’ve lost to in four of their last six top-flight H2Hs (D2). St Johnstone have not only shipped over 1.5 goals in five of those six meetings, but three of those four defeats have yielded a full-time margin of at least three goals.