The Mick Beale era begins
Rangers welcome Hibernian to Ibrox Stadium for their first action since the World Cup break on Thursday evening.
The Gers have replaced Giovanni Van Bronckhorst with Mick Beale in the last few weeks, allowing Beale time to prepare for his first game as Rangers manager after leaving Queens Park Rangers for the job.
Beale should already have a strong rapport with the squad having been assistant manager to Steven Gerrard in his time at the club, and that should aid his transition into the club with a large portion of the squad having a pre-existing relationship with the manager.
Lee Johnson is yet to show the promise that he showed at Bristol City and in other EFL dugouts north of the border, but there is enough potential in the Hibees’ squad for supporters to remain optimistic.
Background
Connor Goldson, Filip Helander, Ianis Hagi, John Souttar, Kemar Roofe, Nnamdi Ofoborh, Ridvan Yilmaz and Tom Lawrence are unavailable at the moment, but Beale’s hand is still much stronger than Johnson’s on the whole.
The visitors will be without Jake Doyle-Hayes, while Lewis Miller, Martin Boyle and Momodou Bojang are doubtful.
Hibernian sit eighth in the Scottish Premiership but are only three points off of the top four in the division, while, as is the norm, Rangers have pulled away with Celtic at the top of the division.
However, they face an enormous uphill task to catch Ange Postecoglou’s men, hence Van Bronckhorst’s departure.
Both sides are underperforming a lot in their own box, and for that reason it would not be a surprise to see this match go unders, and the break from fixtures does tend to even things up, with Hibernian benefitting from stemming some poor form before the World Cup.
Goals?
The Asian Handicap offers enough value to get involved, Beale impressed at QPR but it did come as a surprise for him to earn such high profile interest so quickly and the Hibees are well equipped to stand firm and resume the season in a more solid fashion.
Rangers have scored in nine of ten.
Rangers have conceded in eight of ten.
Rangers have seen both teams score in seven of ten.
Rangers have seen over 2.5 goals in six of ten.
Hibernian have scored in seven of ten.
Hibernian have conceded in seven of ten.
Hibernian have seen both teams score in four of ten.
Hibernian have seen over 2.5 goals in five of ten.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
3-2 Rangers, nice winner.