Preview: Rangers vs. Ross County - prediction, team news, lineups

Despite a phenomenal run of form since Michael Beale arrived as manager, Rangers are still some way off leaders Celtic.

Match preview

The gap between Rangers and Celtic remains at nine points for another week after both sides won again in midweek.

As they are seemingly fighting a losing battle, Rangers must be commended for their determination to keep going until the end.

Since Beale replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst during the World Cup, Rangers have dropped just two points, and they came against Celtic when Kyogo Furuhashi netted an 88th-minute equaliser for the champions.

Their other 10 matches under the stewardship of the former-QPR manager have ended in 10 victories.

They enjoyed another routine victory in the week, winning 3-0 away at Hearts with Alfredo Morelos bagging a brace.

It is just a shame that Celtic have managed 16 wins in their previous 17 league games, with that Old Firm clash in early January being their only dropped points too.

Having finished in the championship group last season for the first time since 2016, the relegation group looks likely for Ross County this season.

The club from Dingwall are just one point off the bottom of the table having played a game more than the two sides below them and they have the worst attacking record in the division.

However, despite also being knocked out of the cup by Hamilton Academical who are bottom of the second tier, they are now unbeaten in three league games.

The five points they have picked up in this mini unbeaten spell may prove crucial come the end of the season as the target for Malky Mackay's side will be to avoid the ominous bottom two places once the league splits.

A goal direct from a corner by Yan Dhanda helped them to a 1-1 draw against Hibernian in midweek, and pieces of individual brilliance like that will be vital in picking up points.

A defeat is expected here though given the might of Rangers compared to Ross County, so there will be no panic if they should take nothing from Ibrox - anything more will be an unbelievably welcome bonus.

Rangers Scottish Premiership form:

W

D

W

W

W

W

Rangers form (all competitions):

W

D

W

W

W

W

Ross County Scottish Premiership form:

L

D

L

D

W

D

Ross County form (all competitions):

D

L

D

L

W

D

Team News

Despite their brilliant form, Rangers are missing a number of first-team players through injury at the moment.

Kemar Roofe and John Souttar have barely featured all season, while Steven Davis, Tom Lawrence and Filip Helander have also had issues for much of the campaign.

Young left-back Ridvan Yilmaz has also been sidelined for several weeks, having made just seven appearances since joining from Besiktas.

In better news, Nicolas Raskin could be set to make his debut for the club after he arrived from Standard Liege on deadline day.

Ross County left-back Ben Purrington is still out and he is joined on the sidelines by Canadian Ben Paton.

Recent signing Nohan Kenneh will be available for selection again after he missed the midweek tie due to being ineligible to face his parent club Hibs.

Kazeem Olaigbe has returned to his parent club Southampton this week having spent the first half of the season on loan at Victoria Park.

Rangers possible starting lineup:

McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Davies, Barisic; Lundstram, Kamara, Sakala; Tillman, Morelos, Kent

Ross County possible starting lineup:

Laidlaw; Randall, Watson, Baldwin, Iacovitti, Harmon; Kenneh, Callachan, Dhanda; Brophy, White

We say: Rangers 4-0 Ross County

Rangers once again need to show up and get the job done and hope St. Johnstone can do them a favour on Sunday against Celtic.

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