Preview: St Johnstone vs. Rangers - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors only trail rivals and league leaders Celtic on goals scored after 25 matches, while their visitors currently sit 10th with a five-point lead over the bottom two.

Match preview

After comfortably avoiding relegation by finishing nine points clear of the drop zone last time around, St Johnstone have experienced a difficult Scottish Premiership campaign thus far, currently sitting 10th with just 24 points on the board from their opening 25 games.

That is largely down to the Saints' struggles going forward, with only basement side Livingston having scored fewer than their 17 goals at this stage, while managing just five victories and suffering 11 defeats in those 25 matches.

The latest of those wins was a crucial one away at fellow strugglers Ross County at the beginning of February, taking an unbeaten streak to four matches following three straight draws and establishing a lead over the bottom two as Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka hit the only goal of the game in the first half.

Craig Levein's side have been unable to build on that victory in their last two attempts, though, firstly seeing the unbeaten streak ended by a 1-0 defeat to Hearts, before most recently travelling to Dundee last weekend and coming away empty-handed, despite leading Matt Smith until the final 15 minutes, as Luke McCowan went on to level the scores before Jordan McGhee netted the winner for the hosts in the dying embers.

Still, at least, boasting a five-point lead over Ross County in the relegation playoff place having played a game more, St Johnstone will be keen to increase their cushion in the coming weeks before the Scottish Premiership splits and will bid to pull of a major upset against a side who have beat them 2-0 in both of their previous Premiership meetings this term.

The visitors, meanwhile, will aim to extend their run of victories over the Saints and a fine run in their bid to regain the Scottish Premiership title this term.

Having fallen short in the previous two terms, Rangers set out to lift the top-flight trophy for the 56th time this campaign, and they have enjoyed a strong season thus far, amassing 61 points from their first 25 matches with 46 of those points coming from Philippe Clement's first 17 league games in charge.

That points haul leaves the Glasgow giants level with rivals and defending champions Celtic and only behind on goals scored, having narrowed their deficit following a defeat in the Old Firm Derby at the end of 2023 with a run of six straight three-point hauls since the turn of the year, firstly seeing off Kilmarnock, Hibernian and St Mirren in January.

Livingston and Aberdeen then visited Ibrox and the Gers saw out 3-0 and 2-1 victories respectively, before most recently hosting Ross County in their game in hand on Wednesday and moving level with Celtic with a 3-1 victory, as Cyriel Dessers netted a first-half brace and John Souttar put the game out of sight in injury time.

Now with plenty of momentum behind them in their pursuit of top spot, Rangers will look to make it seven straight Premiership wins with the chance to leapfrog the champions this weekend.

St Johnstone Scottish Premiership form:

D

D

D

W

L

L

St Johnstone form (all competitions):

L

D

D

W

L

L

Rangers Scottish Premiership form:

W

W

W

W

W

W

Rangers form (all competitions):

W

W

W

W

W

W

Team News

St Johnstone will remain without Ali Crawford and Drey Wright on Sunday, as the duo continue long-term spells in the treatment room.

Ryan McGowan will fight to return to the defence from the outset, having been reduced to a substitute appearance in their trip to Dundee as new Aston Villa loanee was preferred and earned a first start in a back three alongside Liam Gordon and veteran Andrew Considine.

Elsewhere, Matt Smith and David Keltjens should again partner up in the engine room, while Graham Carey should again lend support to a front two with Chris Kane and Nicky Clark both fighting to come in and lead the line after Adama Sidibeh and Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka started up top last weekend.

Rangers are affected by several injuries of their own, particularly in attack, with Danilo, Kemar Roofe and Abdallah Sima remaining sidelined alongside midfielder Kieran Dowell and defender Leon Balogun.

Philippe Clements is unlikely to make many changes to their starting XI from the midweek win over Ross County, aside from a few possible rotations, with James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, John Souttar and Ridvan Yilmaz bound to line up in an unaltered back four, while Tom Lawrence will hope to again join John Lundstram in midfield despite competition from Nicolas Raskin and Mohamed Diomande.

At the top end of the pitch, Cyriel Dessers will again spearhead the attack in their 4-2-3-1 shape, having moved onto 14 goals for the season with his brace last time out, while Ross McCausland, Todd Cantwell and Rabbi Matondo will bid to continue in a supporting trio with Oscar Cortes and Fabio Silva also fighting to come into the attack from the start.

St Johnstone possible starting lineup:

Mitov; McGowan, Gordon, Considine; Olufunwa, Smith, Keltjens, Robinson; Carey; Mbunga-Kimpioka, Clark

Rangers possible starting lineup:

Butland; Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar, Yilmaz; Lundstram, Lawrence; Cortes, Cantwell, Matondo; Danilo

We say: St Johnstone 0-3 Rangers

Rangers have certainly found their groove under Clement and travel in the midst of an impressive run of form.

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