Just days after their Champions League qualifying calamity, Rangers host Championship side Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish League Cup on Friday.
Relegated to the Europa League playoffs by ten-man Malmo earlier this week, the Glasgow giants will expect to bounce back quickly at Ibrox, as they start their quest for a 28th League Cup trophy.
Match preview
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Rangers kick off their Premier Sports Cup campaign this week, hot on the heels of Wednesday's abject home defeat to Swedish champions Malmo, where they squandered a one-goal and one-man advantage to miss out on a place in the Champions League playoffs.
Steven Gerrard's side again succumbed to their Achilles' heel in defence, conceding a couple of well-taken second-half goals by Croatian striker Antonio Colak to slump out of the continent's top tier and into a Europa League tie with either Alashkert or Kairat. That, of course, brings potentially severe financial implications for the Govan outfit, as debts need to be repaid and players are set to be sold.
Now, after three of their first four games of the season resulted in defeat - with 2-1 losses in both legs against Malmo coming either side of a Premiership humbling by Dundee United; their first league reverse in a total of 41 matches - last term's runaway champions are under pressure to get back to winning ways.
Providing them with an ideal opportunity to do so, they now return to a competition in which they are far and away the record winners, having lifted this particular piece of silverware eight times more than Celtic to date.
Those who were present will no doubt recall fond memories of the last time their team hosted Dunfermline in the League Cup, back in 2017, as a 6-0 victory - which featured a double from star striker Alfredo Morelos - saw them through to the quarter-finals. Nonetheless, they have failed to claim the trophy in over a decade now, so will be determined to put that right this year.
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Despite their hosts' travails, Dunfermline come into Friday night's encounter as long-shot outsiders, particularly as their start to the Championship campaign has been decidedly below expectations.
The Pars were held to a 2-2 draw by Greenock Morton on the opening day, before last weekend's 3-0 reverse on home soil, as Peter Grant's men capitulated to Partick Thistle.
A team that has been out of the top flight since the 2012 season had, though, started the summer enlivened by Grant's ambitious re-modelling of the squad following his appointment in May.
An advocate of bold, expressive football, the former Celtic midfielder won many admirers while with part-time Alloa Athletic, and his new club's League Cup group campaign brought some progressive performances. Their aggregate total of 13-4 from three of four cup ties during July - the other brought a 1-0 loss to St Mirren - had fans purring, but events since have dampened enthusiasm ahead of an intimidating trip to Glasgow.
Former Rangers midfielder Graham Dorrans will return to his former club this week, having recently joined Grant's East End Park revolution, and will be all too aware of the tall task facing his current colleagues - though all the scrutiny will be on the home side, so Dunfermline can at least play without pressure.
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Team News
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Given the short turnaround between European and domestic engagements - plus the sluggish start Rangers have made this term - Steven Gerrard is poised to make a number of changes to his starting XI on Friday.
Both Kemar Roofe and Finnish midfielder Glen Kamara served UEFA-imposed suspensions in midweek, so should be available again, while recent signing Fashion Sakala is poised to play a role, having featured as a substitute versus Malmo.
Joe Aribo returned from injury last weekend and could start again, but Ryan Jack has had his return from a calf problem postponed, making Ianis Hagi an alternative attacking option for Gerrard.
His Dunfermline counterpart, meanwhile, has been busy reshaping his squad; switching to a back-three from a four-man rearguard and generally opting for a 3-4-3 formation, in which Kyle MacDonald and Josh Edwards have operated as wing-backs. However, Peter Grant is unlikely to be so bold at Ibrox - especially having just suffered a three-goal defeat in the league.
Nonetheless, the Pars should not entirely abandon their attacking intent, as 14 goals across four League Cup games so far have included three each for ex-Hearts striker Craig Wighton and fellow summer signing Nikolay Todorov. In central midfield, new captain Dom Thomas will continue in a deep-lying role for the visitors.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
McLaughlin; Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Bassey; Arfield, Kamara, Aribo; Hagi, Sakala, Kent
Dunfermline Athletic possible starting lineup:
Mehmet; Comrie, Watson, Graham; McDonald, Dorrans, Thomas, Cole, Edwards; Todorov, Wighton
We say: Rangers 3-1 Dunfermline Athletic
Though they may alter their game-plan to take on the might of Rangers, it is not expected that Dunfermline will simply sit back and wait to be defeated on Friday evening.
No matter which XI boss Steven Gerrard fields, victory is an absolute expectation, and they should achieve it too - but not without an enterprising away side putting their porous defence to the test.
Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Rangers win with a probability of 67.4%. A draw had a probability of 18.7% and a win for Dunfermline Athletic had a probability of 13.94%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rangers win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.79%) and 1-0 (9.63%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.76%), while for a Dunfermline Athletic win it was 1-2 (3.98%). The actual scoreline of 5-0 was predicted with a 2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Rangers would win this match.
