Rangers vs Ayr Predictions

Steven Gerrard’s Rangers will host Championship side Ayr United at Ibrox on Wednesday evening as the teams go head to head to battle for a place in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup. Can Ayr United shock the Gers?

Steven Gerrard’s first managerial job is going quite well for the ex-Liverpool player. Despite his team having one of their worst ever starts in the Scottish Premiership, the Gers currently sit in 2^nd place, 5 points behind league leaders Hearts and level on points with Hibs and Livingston.

Gerrard’s team is a vast improvement on that of seasons gone by, as they have only lost one competitive game all season, albeit against their city rivals Celtic. Last week saw Rangers’ debut in the Europa League as they travelled to Villarreal and managed to earn themselves a well fought draw against one of the better teams in Spain, even if the Yellow Submarine haven’t had the best start to the season.

Their domestic form is slightly less impressive than their first Europa League result, but the Gers still manage to find themselves in 2^nd place, despite losing once and drawing twice – both of these draws saw them lose goals in the last minutes of each game. Their only real hiccup came in the Old Firm derby, which saw Rangers put out a woeful performance in a game in which Celtic should have scored more than just the one goal.

However, morale is high at Ibrox. More than ever the fans feel like Steven Gerrard is finally the one to restore Rangers’ former glory prior to their liquidation back in 2012. Along with a massive overhaul of the squad itself, Gerrard has also massively changed the way the Gers play- and the fans are fully committed to him. Luck fell on Rangers’ side as they drew Ayr United, arguably the weakest club of the 8 remaining in the tournament. Winning this tie would mean that just two games separate the club from a trophy after so many years, so the team will be up for it more than ever.

Ayr United were relegated from the Championship following the end of the 2016-2017 season, but the Ayrshire club managed to bounce right back as they won League One the following campaign. This season- and against all odds- the Honest Men find themselves at the top of the table in 1^st place, gaining 13 points from their first 6 games of the league campaign. Four of those games were victories for the club, and convincing ones at that. Ayr never conceded more than two goals in any given match this season, with the exception of a 5-0 thrashing to Queen of the South a couple of weeks ago. This loss was wedged between four other victories, including a 3-0 win over Dundee FC in the League Cup.

Lawrence Shankland has been in red hot form ever since signing for the club after loan spells at a few different clubs. The striker has scored an incredible 15 goals so far this season in all competitive matches. Such phenomenal form is bound to attract interest from bigger and better clubs, and if the 23-year-old striker keeps this form up, he’ll probably be on track to break some records.

Ayr have never won a domestic cup, with their best results coming as a 2^nd place position back in 2002, 1992 & 1991- so they’ll be adamant to prove that soon they could be promoted and playing with the big clubs- which they could start to prove as early as Wednesday when they take on Rangers.

Ayr United’s form ever since being relegated to League One back in 2017 has been red-hot, and they look to be the real deal in a promotion push this season. However, they were drawn against the hardest possible team – Rangers. The Gers have a higher morale and more to prove, especially under new boss Steven Gerrard. For this reason alone, I think Rangers will win the match with over 3.5 goals, but it won’t be easy for them. I’m also going for a 3-1 score, and I also expect Shankland to grab his 16^th goal in 13 games this season.