Rangers vs Kilmarnock Prediction & Betting Tips - Scottish Premiership

Prediction published on 03/05/2024, 08:00  by Kennedy Kechula | Modified on 05/05/2024 at 00:00 in Football Predictions

Rangers have the chance to close in on Celtic in the race for the Scottish Premiership title when they host Kilmarnock. Heading into the weekend, Rangers are second, three points behind Celtic while Kilmarnock are fourth, 11 points behind Hearts. By the time Rangers take on Kilmarnock, Celtic might have widened the gap at the top, as they play earlier. Rangers are however going to focus only on winning their game, as they have Celtic up next. An area of focus for Rangers in this game will be their defence, having managed just three clean sheets in 10 matches. Their scoring run can’t be faulted, the hosts having netted in 29 of their last 30 league matches. The only time in that run that Rangers failed to score was in the 0-0 draw with Dundee in the last game before the split. Playing at home works well for Rangers, who have 11 wins in their 13 league matches there. Heading into this game, Rangers have two straight wins over Kilmarnock. The last time they faced off, Rangers had to come from behind to win 2-1 with goals from James Tavernier and Thomas Lawrence.

Kilmarnock are a win away from securing the Conference League slot. Chances that they can rise to the Europa League slot are almost non-existent after their 0-0 draw with Hearts last time out. Hearts need a point to lock third, and Kilmarnock are better off fighting for a fourth-place finish. It may not come this weekend, as they face a tough opponent, but they’ve already beaten Rangers this season and will be confident here. After a 1-0 win at home in August, Kilmarnock went on to lose back-to-back games against Rangers. They have just a win in their last nine matches against Rangers, losing all the rest. Notably though, they scored in each of their last five meetings with Rangers. To this game they carry a five-match unbeaten run, winning three. In their last three matches, they kept clean sheets. In five of their last eight matches, both teams scored. Both teams also scored in six of Kilmarnock’s last seven away matches.