Hearts and Rangers will meet in the opening round of the new Scottish Premiership on Saturday, 3 August.
With both teams looking to start the season with a win, who will emerge victorious from this exciting matchup? Find out by reading our Hearts vs Rangers prediction and preview below.
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Hearts vs Rangers prediction: Guests to start the season with a win
Key Stats
- Hearts enter this match on a three-game losing streak, albeit all in friendly matches.
- The last seven matches played by Hearts, going back to last season, have gone over 2.5 total goals.
- Rangers have gone over 2.5 total goals in three of their four pre-season games.
Correct score prediction: Hearts 1-3 Rangers
With Rangers beating Hearts on the regular and with them having scored at least three goals in three of their last five H2H meetings, a 3-1 win for Rangers sounds like a reasonable outcome for this game.
Pre-game odds and win probability: Rangers the clear favourites
- HOME: 4/1 (5.00) – 20.00%
- DRAW: 16/5 (4.20) – 23.80%
- AWAY: 3/5 (1.60) – 62.50%
*odds from Ladbrokes, subject to change
We can see from these Hearts vs Rangers odds that the guests are the expected winners in this game, which is hardly surprising given that they're a much better team than Hearts on paper.
Rangers have also been dominant in their recent duels with Hearts and have finished the last season 18 points ahead in the Premiership standings. That being said, both teams have struggled in their pre-season matches and Hearts certainly have quality to surprise us here.
Anyway, this can be an exciting match and if you liked our predictions for it, go check out some of our top betting tips for today as well.
Most recent H2Hs: Rangers the dominant team
With four wins in the last five duels with Hearts, Rangers have clearly been the better team of the two recently. Looking at the overall H2H record, Rangers once again have a significant advantage—197-62-68.
Scotland Premiership 18/05/24
Hearts
Rangers
Scotland FA Cup 21/04/24
Rangers
Hearts
Scotland Premiership 24/02/24
Rangers
Hearts
Scotland Premiership 06/12/23
Hearts
Rangers
Scotland League Cup 05/11/23
Hearts
Rangers
Hearts preview: Hoping to start the new season well
Last season was a solid one for Hearts since they've managed to finish third in the standings and secured a place in the Europa League qualifiers, where they will start from the playoff-round, the final round before the group phase. Hearts haven't done that well in pre-season though, having lost all three of their friendly games.
Meanwhile, Calem Nieuwenhof and Beni Baningime are currently out with injuries.
Predicted lineup: Clark (GK), Taylor, Rowles, Kingsley, Penrice, Devlin, Spittal, Oda, Dhanda, McKay & Shankland
Scotland Premiership 01/09/24
L
Dundee Utd
1
Hearts
0
UEFA Europa League Qualifying 29/08/24
L
Viktoria Plzen
1
Hearts
0
Scotland Premiership 25/08/24
L
Motherwell
3
Hearts
1
UEFA Europa League Qualifying 22/08/24
L
Viktoria Plzen
1
Hearts
0
Scotland League Cup 17/08/24
L
Falkirk
2
Hearts
0
Rangers preview: Can they start a season with a big win?
After finishing last season in second place behind their fierce rivals Celtic, Rangers will be hoping for a title this time around, so they need a strong start of the season. However, their first opponent is the team that was third last season, Hearts, and Rangers enter this match after failing to win any of their four pre-season matches.
When it comes to team news, Dujon Sterling is injured and unlikely to play in this game, while Todd Cantwell is hoping for a transfer, so he will also not be in the team today.
Predicted lineup: Butland (GK), Tavernier, Souttar, Balogun, Jefte, Diomande, Barron, Cerny, Lawrence, Cortes & Dessers
Scotland Premiership 01/09/24
L
Celtic
3
Rangers
0
Scotland Premiership 24/08/24
W
Ross County
0
Rangers
6
Scotland League Cup 17/08/24
W
St Johnstone
0
Rangers
2
UEFA Champions League Qualifying 13/08/24
L
Dynamo Kiev
2
Rangers
0
Scotland Premiership 10/08/24
W
Motherwell
1
Rangers
2
Player to watch: Cyriel Dessers
The Nigerian international has scored 22 goals last season for Rangers in all competitions and he will once again be their main offensive threat, which is why he's our player to watch in this match.
Dessers to score with a header?
The last three goals in the Premiership last season Dessers scored with his head. Will we see more of the same at the start of the new season?
