SPL PREVIEW

                                                                Rangers v Hearts
                                                           Scottish Premier League
                                                               Date: 23/07/2011
                                                              Time: 12.30 (local)


Rangers

This campaign see's the start of a new era for the champions with Walter Smith standing down and Super Ally stepping up from his assistant role. McCoist has been the perfect apprentice under his mentor Smith and I don't think there is anyone better placed to really truely know the club, their fans and the pressures that are demanded in Glasgow where every game is a must win. 

Transfer wise they have been relatively quiet with the only noticable signing coming in being the left sided midfielder Ortiz from Spanish side Almeria. I imagine there will be a couple more to come with Villa's Cuellar keeping them waiting and the possiblity of another former player, Kenny Miller, returning but whatever happens they seem unlikey to be in place to make Saturday's squad.

Rangers have had a pretty uninspiring preseason, with a tour of Germany seeing defeats from Sportfreude, Bochum and Bayer Leverkusen. Rangers didn't even manage a goal in any of these games but no doubt fitness was the main aim. I watched them play a friendly with Blackpool on Tuesday night and I expect the team put out in the first half will be the one that starts against Hearts on saturday with the only exception being veteran David Weir as he is carrying a suspension from last season. Sasa Papac then should fill in at left back with Kirk Broadfoot standing in for Weir in the heart of defence. Rangers looked match fit and not surprisingly a lot sharper than Blackpool and ran out comfortable 2-0 winners thanks to a double from Steven Davis.

A slight worry for McCoist is that they are lacking a little upfront with Kyle Lafferty out till the end of August after a hernia op so it is a little bit of a surprise they were not a bit more proactive in trying to get Kenny Miller back to the club. They will have to settle for now with Jelavic playing the lone striker role supported by attacking midfielder Naismith.

Possible Lineup : McGregor, Whittaker,Bougherra, Broadfoot, Papac, Davis, Edu, McCulloch, Ortiz, Naismith, Jelavic


Hearts

Hearts finished third last season and although they ended up a massive 30 points behind the old firm I think this gap could have been considerably closer had they not suffered injuries to key players after christmas. So manager Jim Jefferies has done well to add some proven SPL quality players to his squad this season in Jamie Hamill, John Sutton, Danny Grainger and Mehdi Taoul and if they can secure the services of Rudi Skacel they should maintain their status as the best of the rest.

In John Sutton, younger brother of Chris Sutton, they have bought a goal scorer who is capable of getting double figures for the season and he will be vital back up for Kevin Kyle who is constantly injured.

Hearts too have had a pretty quiet warm up to the season with a 3-0 win over East Fife, a 1-0 defeat to Livingston and a final pre-season victory over Belgian side Royal Antwerp 1-0.

It's fair to say that an away trip to Ibrox for Hearts is not really a fixture Hearts relish and one that they very rarely get anything from. It really does prove grim reading for the Hearts fans when looking at past results, in fact you have to back as far as May 2004 for their last and only victory this century in Glasgow!

Possible lineup : Kello, Wallace, Webster, Zaliukas, Jonsson, Templeton, Taouil, Black, Obua, Stevenson, Sutton

PREDICTION

Rangers and Hearts will be well prepared for this match as they both have european qualifying ties the following midweek so I expect them to be up to match speed.

With Hearts likely to be still without key players Driver, Skacel and Kyle and Rangers basically playing their full strength title winning team from last season, given past form, I can't see past anything other than a convincing opening day victory for Rangers.

It's also worth pointing out that Hearts have quite a history of getting players sent off in this fixture and with discipline not one of their strong points, finishing the game with 11 men might be an achievement in itself.

THE PICK

Rangers 3-0 Hearts

PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE

Rangers 70% Hearts 10% Draw 20%

THE BET

Although Rangers are short odds on, I recommend taking the odds of around 1.40 (7 unit stake)