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Hearts v Rangers
📅 Kick Off: Saturday 3rd August at 12:30
🏆 Competition: Scottish Premiership
📺 Watch Live: Sky Sports Football
The 2024/25 Scottish Premiership season kicks off on Saturday afternoon with Hearts taking on Rangers at Tynecastle.
Steven Naismith guided Hearts to a commendable third-place finish in his first season in charge, which guarantees the capital club a minimum of group stage football in the Europa Conference League later this year. The Jam Tarts have a squad packed with Scottish Premiership experience which has been complemented with some shrewd signings over the summer.
Meanwhile, Philippe Clement gets a first full season in charge of Rangers, and there were signs of improvement after the Belgian replaced Michael Beale last October. That being said, last season, the Light Blues finished eight points behind rivals Celtic, and Clement is facing an uphill task to close the gap this term. The Rangers boss has struggled to reshape his squad this summer due to a lack of funds, while he also has the added headache of having to start the campaign away from Ibrox after a delay to construction work on the club’s Copland Road Stand.
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Hearts v Rangers Best Bets
Tynecastle is an extremely tough place to go and the home side could find joy going forward against a Rangers team in a period of transition. Philippe Clement’s side found clean sheets hard to come by during the final three months of last season and they have also been shipping goals at a pretty alarming rate during pre-season. As such, Hearts look like a good shout to grab at least one goal here at 1.44.
Steven Naismith’s side struck at least once in 30 of their 38 Scottish Premiership matches last season, blanking just three times in 19 outings at their capital headquarters. That sample includes three strikes against Rangers at home on the final day of last season. With the visitors continuing to display signs of vulnerability and fragility, Hearts look well placed to hit the back of the net at least once here.
On a similar line of reasoning to the above, Hearts also merit support with a +2 start on the handicap at 1.44. Tynecastle was a fortress for Hearts in the Scottish Premiership last season, with Naismith’s men losing just three of their 19 home games, with Celtic the only team to overcome a +2 handicap hurdle in Edinburgh.
In fact, just three of the Jam Tarts’ overall ten league losses last season were by a two-goal margin or more, making the hosts an appealing prospect with a +2 advantage in their season opener with their Glasgow guests.
📊 Hearts Form and Stats
In terms of their pre-season schedule, Hearts’ results didn’t make for great reading. Naismith’s team lost all three of their games against English trio Leyton Orient, Tottenham and Fleetwood.
While the Jam Tarts struggled to take points off of Rangers last season, they did manage to defeat champions Celtic both home and away, demonstrating that they have the ability to be an extremely dangerous opponent for any of the division’s heavyweights.
Lawrence Shankland’s lethal finishing was key to Hearts’ success last season. The Jambos skipper finished the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership season as the league’s top scorer with 24 goals in 37 appearances. Two of those 24 goals were scored against Rangers, while he also breached the Light Blues’ backline in a 3-1 Scottish League Cup semi-final defeat last term. The Hearts hitman is as big as 3.75 to strike on Saturday.
Hearts also had a solid defensive foundation behind Shankland last season, with the capital club keeping 16 clean sheets over the course of the campaign – a tally only marginally topped by Rangers (18). It’s also worth noting that no side recorded more home shutouts (9) than Naismith’s side last season.
Following an impressive spell at Motherwell, Hearts have brought in Blair Spittal on a free transfer. Only Celtic’s Matt O’Riley (13) provided more assists in the Scottish Premiership than Spittal (11) last season.
📊 Rangers Form and Stats
Amid fan discontent, yet another squad rebuild and being locked out of Ibrox, it would be fair to say Rangers’ pre-season programme has been far from plain sailing. On top of that, Philippe Clement’s side lost to both Ajax and Manchester United, before being booed off at half time after a dismal first half showing against Birmingham City – another game which ended in defeat for the Glasgow giants. The Gers have since rounded off their pre-season schedule with a barnstorming 4-4 draw with Bundesliga side Union Berlin.
A number of regular starters from last season have left the club and the unique pressure of the Glasgow goldfish bowl means Rangers’ new recruits will need to come in and hit the ground running.
James Tavernier has been heavily linked with a move away from Ibrox this summer but he looks set to lead his side into battle on Saturday. The Rangers captain netted 17 goals in the Scottish top-flight last season, two of which came against Hearts. Tavernier also bagged a brace in the Gers’ aforementioned 3-1 Scottish League Cup semi final success against the Tynecastle club last term.
The defensive solidity that served Rangers well during the early months of Clement’s tenure deteriorated towards the end of last season, with the Ibrox outfit conceding at least one goal in ten of their final 11 league games of the campaign. There is plenty of scope for that trend to continue given that the Light Blues’ new boys may take time to bed in.
However, at the other end of the park, Rangers rarely blanked in front of goal last season, failing to score in just three of their 38 Scottish Premiership assignments.
⚔️ Hearts v Rangers Head-to-Head
The two sides played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Tynecastle on the final day of the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership season.
While that entertaining end of season encounter was essentially a dead rubber for both sides, it is worth noting that it was the only time that Hearts avoided defeat in six meetings with Rangers last term. The Light Blues triumphed in each of the other three top-flight tussles between the pair, not to mention they also eliminated Hearts en route to both the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup finals respectively.
The Ibrox club put in arguably their most complete performance of the Philippe Clement era to date with a devastating 5-0 win over Hearts at Ibrox back in February, ending the capital club’s then 12-game unbeaten run in the process.
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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