Rangers will look to return to winning ways when they travel to Aberdeen. They suffered back-to-back defeats in the Scottish Premiership and the UEFA Champions League by the same scoreline of 0-4.
Aberdeen have started the season well, with ten points in the first six games. They are on a three-match unbeaten run and will look to extend it to four matches. The Dons have scored 13 goals with a high average xG rate of 2.17. Their defence has leaked seven goals.
Rangers, on the other hand, will be disappointed with their season’s start. The Gers have won four matches and drawn and lost one match each. Rangers have scored fourteen goals and conceded seven. They average 2.33 xG per match. The Gers suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Celtic and will look to bounce back in this match.
Now, let’s look at some of the stats that could predict the outcome of the match.
Aberdeen in defence
Aberdeen have performed well both in attack as well as in defence. The Dons have won 51.6% of their duels this season and will aim to stop Rangers from scoring a goal. Their defensive duels win rate is 62.9%, and Rangers might find it difficult to get past this defence. In their last match, Aberdeen won most of their duels in the defensive half and will expect to repeat the same performance against their upcoming opponents.
The attacking zones
Aberdeen average 29.8 positional attacks per match and attempt nine shots from these attacks. The Dons like to attack from the flanks. Their shot average is 13.83 with a 35% shot accuracy rate. Aberdeen have scored one goal fewer than Rangers and will look to match that tally in this match.
Rangers averaged 39.67 positional attacks per match and attempted ten shots from these attacks. Their shooting average is 16.83 shots per match with an accuracy rate of 34.6%. Rangers were poor against Celtic as they only created 26 positional attacks and attempted 11 shots in the match. They will be looking to improve their record in this match.
Rangers’ passing channels
Rangers like to attack from the wings. James Tavernier carries a lot of threats from the right side, while Ryan Kent is a key figure on the left side. John Lundstram stays in the heart of the midfield and distributes the ball to the flanks. The passes are mostly directed to the flanks.
Key players
Bojan Miovski is the main threat to Rangers’ defence. The striker has netted five goals with an xG rate of 3.81. He averages two shots per match and has attempted 13 shots, with nine on target. Rangers defence might find it tough to contain him.
Rangers’ Ryan Kent will play a key role. He has missed two games this season and has featured in the other four. The Englishman has three assists to his name and will look to add more to his tally in this game. He is a threat on the left and likes to run with the ball, as shown in the above viz. The Aberdeen defence might find it hard to contain the speedy winger.
Team news
Callum Roberts and Connor Barron are set to miss this match.
Tom Lawrence will be a key absentee for the Gers. The other players are still recovering and are out of contention.
Rangers will have a tough test after facing disappointment in the last two games. They face an in-form Aberdeen side who are high on confidence. This will be a tough test for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side.
Visuals via Wyscout
