Aberdeen vs Rangers: TV channel, live stream, squad news & preview

Rangers travel to Pittodrie on Wednesday to tackle Aberdeen in what promises to be a blockbuster Scottish Premiership encounter.

The rivalry between the clubs runs deep and the Dons, who lie only two points behind Steven Gerrard’s men, will be eager to deal a huge blow to their title hopes.

Rangers remain in second courtesy of a 4-0 win over St Mirren at the weekend, which was marked by an incredible four penalties in favour of the Ibrox club.

They will surely find conditions in Scotland’s north east far less hospitable.

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TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch

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In the United States (US), the game can be streamed via B/R Live.

In the UK, the game will be shown on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football. It can be streamed on Sky Go.

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Squads & Team News

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Scott McKenna was subject to a £7 million bid from Stoke City during the transfer window but opted to stay at Aberdeen. The centre-back, however, misses this encounter due to injury.

Derek McInnes is also bereft of midfielder Frank Ross. Joe Lewis and Sam Cosgrove are expected to shake off knocks to feature.

Possible Aberdeen starting XI: Lewis; Logan, Considine, Hoban, Lowe; McGinn, Shinnie, Ferguson, Mackay-Steven; Stewart, Cosgrove

The big question mark over the Rangers team is whether Connor Goldson is fit enough to feature in the defence. All the indications suggest it is a toss of the coin as to whether he can play or not.

Jamie Murphy, Graham Dorrans and Eros Grezda are long-term absentees, while January additions Glen Kamara and Matt Polster will not make up part of the squad as they work on their fitness levels.

Jermain Defoe is tipped to start this game on the bench.

Possible Rangers starting XI: McGregor; Tavernier, Worrall, Katic, Barisic; Ross McCrorie, Arfield, Jack; Candeias, Morelos, Kent

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Betting & Match Odds

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Rangers are 17/20 favourites with Bet365, while Aberdeen can be backed at 16/5. A draw is priced at 5/2.

Click here to see more offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.

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Match Preview

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Controversy has raged around Rangers’ weekend victory over St Mirren, which they won by a resounding 4-0 margin but were awarded a string of penalties by referee Andrew Dallas, who pointed to the spot four times. 

The nature of the calls have seen both the official and Rangers striker Jermain Defoe come under the microscope, with the former England man having been accused of diving by Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke, who saw one of his own players, Jordan Jones, handed a two-game retrospective ban for the offence.

Defoe has avoided such a punishment, while Gerrard described his “surprise and disappointment” that the Killie boss would wade in on the debate.

The upshot is that Rangers continue to lie second in the Premiership table, six points behind leaders Celtic, having won each of their last two fixtures by an emphatic margin.

However, in neither of those games did they tackle an opponent as dangerous as Aberdeen, who come into this match undefeated in their last six and with only one loss in 11.

Derek McInnes’ side have gradually worked their way back up the table after a disappointing start and scored a commendable 2-1 away win against Hibs on Saturday. 

The greatest surprise about that encounter was that striker Sam Cosgrove failed to find the net. The Englishman has scored 10 times in his last 11 games and will be the player that Rangers most closely need to police.

McInnes knows his side are underdogs but is pleased that the Dons remain competitive with the Glasgow giants.

“It pleases me no end that despite all these differences, advantages they have in terms of size of squad, money they can throw at the squad, we are still in and around them, trying to compete against them,” he said. 

If the Dons can get the victory, they will move into second ahead of a Scottish Cup match against Queen of the South on Sunday.