Rangers vs Hibernian Predictions

• Rangers have won seven of their last nine home games against Hibs
• Hibs lost to Motherwell last weekend and are struggling to cope with the Thursday-to-Sunday programme
• Fewer than four goals have been scored in the last five head-to-head meetings

Shankland has haunted Hibs before

Rangers should be able to record their first win of the new campaign under ex-Hearts boss Derek McInnes when Hibernian travel to Ibrox in the Premiership on Sunday. The Light Blues travelled back from Poland after a 2-1 Europa League defeat to Jagiellonia on Thursday, which followed a dismal 1-1 draw at Dundee United in their league opener.

McInnes said his much-changed Gers side “beat ourselves” with two mistakes leading to the goals they conceded in Bialystok and that they resembled the side they were last season. That may be a coded message to those above to pull their finger out over new additions, but new Japanese winger Daisuke Yokota hardly impressed on his debut.

However, Lawrence Shankland was rested in Poland and is almost certainly slated to start this match and the return leg at Ibrox on Thursday. The ex-Hearts captain scored seven goals in the Edinburgh derby down the years and would love to get off the mark for his new club against the Hibees.

Squad depth should enable Rangers to cope better

Rangers’ record in these fixtures suggests they should have the upper hand but they rarely win by wide margins or concede many goals.  The Ibrox club have won seven of their last nine home matches against Hibs, scoring more than twice on only three occasions.

Hibs strugged to impose themselves in a 2-1 defeat to Motherwell last weekend and again in a 2-1 Conference League win over Shkandija on Thursday with boss David Gray later admitting his side are still unused to the Thursday-Sunday turnaround.

The side with the biggest squad should win this and that is clearly the hosts with Rangers backed to win with fewer than four goals in the game based on recent trends in the fixture.