Rangers vs St. Johnstone

Two teams at complete opposite poles of the form table are expected to face each other on the Sunday afternoon when the Scottish Premiership favourites Rangers battle it out against the strugglers St Johnstone.

The hosts are second in the table with 41 points collected in the first 21 battles of the championship, while the guests occupy the last line with only 15 points scored in 22 fights.

Rangers commenced the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership campaign with the target of winning a transformer league title after an outstanding unbeaten season of 2020-21 when they accumulated 102 points.

However after only 21 games Rangers are already 15 points behind their Scottish premiership counterparts Celtic mainly due to a poor start to the term.

Philippe Clement received much criticism for his stewardship of Rangers that embarrassed the team to register their worst start of the Scottish Premiership season since their inaugural season in the top flight during the 2016/2017 season, recording only seven wins, two draws, and three losses in the first 12 matches.

Their results did however improve for the next four games, but recently the team has been on a down spiral again having won only one out of the last five games.

Clement will be going into this one hoping their good home form can somehow be extended to gain a much needed win against St. Johnstone, while the pressure will be mounting around the role of the Belgian at the club.

A clash with St Johnstone could definitely be regarded as an opportunity for Rangers to gain crucial 3 points, as the away side are currently occupying the last place on the Scottish Premiership table with only 15 points earned in 22 games, and are 8 points behind the 11th placed Hearts.

Former manager Craig Levein was dismissed having the saints struggling to only win one of their first five league matches, while Andy Kirk garnered only one draw and two losses when he temporarily took the mantle of the team’s manager.

Rangers have performed exceptionally well at home, winning 10 games and drawing one. However, their away record has been called "scandalous," as the Gers have only won three of their 11 league games away from home, along with four draws and four losses.

Following a fantastic start in which he led the Saints to consecutive victories, Simo Valakari was named the new permanent manager. However, St Johnstone has only won once in the last 12 games.

Just over halfway through the season, Valakari's team is already in danger of relegation, so they desperately need three points and a better run of results in the upcoming games if they hope to survive.

However, history indicates that St Johnstone is unlikely to defeat Rangers, as the Saints have lost all eight of their previous encounters with the Gers in all competitions.
The manager may decide to start the same squad that played in their 1-1 draw with Dundee the previous time out because Clement will have few options for his starting lineup.

Vaclav Cerny is one of the few players who has performed exceptionally well for Rangers this season. The winger scored his eighth goal of the year against Dundee, continuing his impressive play. Rangers will probably turn to Cerny to make the difference once more in this match.

Sam McClelland and Uche Ikpeazu are both expected to return from injury later this month, so their absence from this game is the only issue for Valakari's St Johnstone.

After serving his suspension in their most recent game against Dundee, Jason Holt and Sven Sprangler may return to the midfield for this game.