Scottish League
2011-07-23 - Rangers vs Hearts
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : Scottish Premier League
Saturday 23 July 2011 - Kickoff 12:45pm (Local Time)
This game is live on TV
The Scottish Premier League is starting at an extremely early stage this season with the premise that it will help the domestic clubs that are having European engagements early in the season.
Rangers
We open the season with the reigning Champions, Glasgow Rangers, as they look to win the title for the 4th season in succession. Rangers pipped local rivals Celtic to the title last season but have had a few things change since then.
Rangers lost their influential manager Walter Smith during the offseason and his replacement was Ally McCoist, the former Assistant Manager of the club and the long term successor for the manager role.
It has been a hard time for this team as they get their squad ready for the start of their Champions League campaign, and the squad is still being strengthened as the season starts. The likes of Lee Wallace and Juan Manuel Ortiz have been brought into Ibrox, but there are still expected to be further signings made.
Ibrox was a tough place for teams to visit last season and Rangers ended the season with a 14-2-3 record there in the League, scoring 43 goals and conceding just 14. Only Celtic conceded less and scored more goals in their home games last season.
David Weir is suspended for this match so Lee Wallace could make his debut against his former club. Kyle Lafferty was in fine form in the final weeks of last season but is missing the first 3 weeks of this thanks to injury.
Hearts
Hearts will be playing their first Europa League game of the season on Thursday after finishing 3rd in the Scottish Premier League last season. They are once again expected to be 'the best of the rest' outside of the Old Firm but will see this game as a chance to lay down a marker for further ambitions.
Jim Jeffries has made a few shrewd signings to bolster his squad, but the sale of Lee Wallace to Rangers shows there is still a significant gap between them and the Old Firm teams. However, the fans of the Jambos will still feel confident they can finish above the rest of the teams in the Division.
Hearts finished with a 9-6-4 record away from home last season, scoring 26 goals and conceding 24 in those games. That was clearly the best record away from home outside of the Old Firm clubs in terms of points gained.
Jamie Hamill will have to wait to make his debut for his new club as he serves a suspension from last season. Stephen Elliot is available after recovering from an ear infection.
Head to Head
Rangers have won 7 of the last 9 Scottish Premier League games between the two teams. In that time, Hearts have won just 1 game.
They have not lost at home to Hearts in 15 League meetings.
Rangers have won 7 of their last 9 games at Ibrox against Hearts.
Prediction
This should be a home win and the prices of 1.4 on that happening look reasonable enough.
The first games of the season can be tough to predict as some teams struggle to maintain their form throughout the 90 minutes in their first competitive game for a couple of months.
In saying that, Rangers do have a very strong home record against Hearts and have brought back many of the players that would have celebrated winning the title in May and so they should be experienced. The move from Walter Smith to Ally McCoist should be seamless as McCoist has been working at the club under Smith before this season.
While I have said the 1.4 is a reasonable price, I am going to attack this game in a different way. Their last 5 wins at Ibrox over Hearts have come with the added bonus of securing a clean sheet, and it was their defence that won them the Championship last season.
They will be missing David Weir which is a tough loss, but I think Rangers will continue with their position of securing wins off the back of good defensive performances. Therefore, rather than the 1.4, I will pick the 2.25 on Rangers to win with the added bonus of a clean sheet.
The Pick :
Rangers 1-0 Hearts
