Rangers’ away form this season has been very questionable, with Philippe Clement’s side winning just 3 of their 8 away matches so far this season while scoring only 7 times in these road trips in the Premiership. The Ibrox side’s latest setback on their travels was a 2-1 loss to St Mirren at the weekend. They lacked imagination in that encounter and despite dominating 75% of possession mustered only 1.5xG. This has been a repeating pattern for the Glasgow side for much of this term and means they have won only 1 of 8 away matches by more than a single goal. Motherwell have been on strong form lately, losing only 1 of their last 4 in the league and apparently shaking off the type of poor defensive form that saw them losing heavily to Hibs and Dundee in the space of a few days a month ago. The hosts have only lost 2 of their last 14 against Rangers by 3 goals or more and none of the last 6.

Motherwell’s games have more often than not produced at least 3 goals this season. Of their 18 premiership fixtures, 14 have yielded this fixture, with 10 finishing with exactly 3 strikes. The head-to-head record between these teams also points to a game with at least 3 goals. Each of the last 3 occasions when these teams have met, the game has finished 2-1. Twice this has been in the favour of Rangers while the other occasion saw Motherwell triumph by this margin. Although the Gers have struggled for goals away from home, they should fancy their chances of netting against a Motherwell team that has only kept 1 clean sheet since the opening day of the season. During December, 3 of the 4 Premiership matches that Philippe Clement’s side have produced at least 3 goals, while overall this season. Prior to this run, only 5 of the club’s 14 league matches had reached this mark.

Rangers win 6.35 corners per match on average in the league, which is the third highest figure behind Celtic (9.53) and Hearts (6.42). Motherwell, by contrast, only average 5.0 corners per match. In the 2 previous games between these clubs this season, Philippe Clement’s men have come out on top in the corner count, doing so by an aggregate of 14-4. St Mirren won more corners than Rangers in Paisley on Boxing Day but that went against a long-term trend that has seen the Ibrox outfit dominate their rivals in this statistic. Prior to that encounter, the Light Blues had won more corners than their opponents in 10 successive Premiership matches. Rangers are expected to dominate this encounter in terms of territory and possession, and so should get themselves into the type of positions whereby they will win corners on significantly more occasions than their hosts.

Rangers have been surprisingly prone to conceding corners when playing away from home this season, conceding an average of 5.25 per match, which puts them firmly in the middle of the pack compared to their peers in Scotland’s top-flight. Last weekend, they conceded 7 corners to St Mirren, who win fewer corners per match than Motherwell on average. Also conceded 8 in their previous away match against St Johnstone and 3 versus Ross County. These 2 clubs are the worst in the league when it comes to winning corners. Motherwell win on average 5.0 corners per match this season in the Premiership and while they have not had big corner counts in recent encounters, they did pick up 3 when they went to Celtic at the weekend. Won 3 corners in their last home clash against Rangers, though this took place almost exactly a year ago. They also won 4 corners when they visited Ibrox on league business earlier this season.

Rangers have only won 4 league matches this season by more than a single goal, making Motherwell’s price to run them close at Fir Park a particularly attractive bet. Two of the Gers’ 4 comfortable wins have been achieved against Ross County, while tellingly only 1 of these successes came on the road. This was against the Dingwall club earlier this month. A lack of reliability in front of goal is preventing the Ibrox outfit from enjoying the type of domination that they might expect over their rivals. Motherwell have twice lost at home by more than a couple of goals this season, yet one of those occasions was against a Celtic side that is clearly the strongest in Scotland currently. Against Rangers, Stuart Kettlewell’s side have lost only 1 of their last 5 by a margin of more than a single goal.

Danilo is Rangers’ man in form, having come off the bench to score against St Mirren at the weekend. Having been among the substitutes in Paisley, the Brazilian is liable to be recalled to the starting XI for this encounter. He posts a record of 1.01 goals per 90 in the Scottish Premiership this season, with his comparatively few minutes coming about as he is being nursed back to full health after a serious injury issue picked up at the beginning of last season. The 25-year-old has scored in 3 of his last 4 appearances in the league and in the other game grabbed an assist for what proved to be the match-winning goal. He has a decisive contribution in every league match he has played 45 minutes or more of this season. Motherwell gave up plenty of chances to Celtic’s centre-forwards at the weekend, with 5 shots plus 2 on target coming from Adam Idah and later Kyogo Furuhashi, who played the No.9 role for the Hoops. Suggests they can be exploited through the middle of the park.

Motherwell have only kept 2 clean sheets in the league all season – at home against Ross County on the opening day of the campaign and away to St Mirren earlier in December – so Rangers should be heavily backed to find the net at least once. The Gers have scored in each of their last 9 league matches, and while they have yet to completely uncork their full potential going forward, should have the capacity to net against a side that has already conceded 31 times in 18 games. Motherwell will also fancy their chances of breaching the visiting defence, as they have done at least once on the 3 occasions these teams have met this season. Leaving aside their matches against Celtic, they have also done so in 13 of their last 15 Premiership games – a run started when they lost 2-1 to Rangers at Ibrox on August 10.

Rangers have been winning big corner count in recent matches, with at least 6 coming in each of their last 4 Premiership matches. When these sides met in the League Cup semi-final at Hampden on 3 November, Rangers picked up 8 corners. In the previous clash between the clubs in August, they earned 6 but they were in considerably poorer form then. Philippe Clement’s side are earning an average of 6.35 corners per game. They rank third among Scotland’s top-tier sides when it comes to winning these situations away from home with an average of 6.0 per match. Going up against a Motherwell team giving up 6.33 per match – making the Steelmen the third most Premiership team when it comes to giving up corners. Only St Johnstone and Aberdeen concede more on average.