Rangers will attempt to make up ground in the race for the Scottish Premiership title when they go to Livingston on Sunday.
Steven Gerrard’s men sank to a 2-1 loss to Kilmarnock on Wednesday, leaving them three points off the pace of their great rivals Celtic heading into the weekend.
Livingston, meanwhile, started the season superbly but have fallen back into the middle of the standings and will have to rediscover their best level if they are to finish in the top six.
| Game | Livingston vs Rangers |
| Date | Sunday, January 27 |
| Time | 4:00pm GMT / 11:00 am ET |
TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch
In the United States (US), the game can be streamed via B/R Live.
| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| N/A | B/R Live |
In the UK, the game will be shown on Sky Sports Football and can be streamed via Sky Go.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| Sky Sports Football | Sky Go |
Squads & Team News
| Position | Livingston squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Kelly, Stewart, Maley |
| Defenders | Clark, Halkett, Lithgow, Gallagher, Lamie, Brown |
| Midfielders | Lawson, Byrne, Blues, Jacobs, Lawless, Wylde, Cadden, Pittman, Erskine, Sibbald |
| Forwards | De Vita, Tiffoney, Menga, Hardie, Miller |
Livingston will have a very strong squad to bring into this game, with only Scott Robinson sidelined.
Ciaron Brown will hope to debut after arriving on loan from Cardiff earlier in the week, while Scott Tiffoney will also aim to make his bow.
Former Rangers youngster Gregg Wylde should start after joining from Plymouth recently.
Possible Livingston starting XI: Kelly; Gallagher, Halkett, Lithgow; Lawless, Pittman, Byrne, Jacobs, Wylde; Hardie, Menga
| Position | Rangers squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | McGregor, Foderingham, Robbie McCrorie |
| Defenders | Tavernier, Goldson, Flanagan, Ross McCrorie, Katic, Bradley, Barisic, Worrall, McAuley |
| Midfielders | Jack, Ejaria, Halliday, Coulibaly, Arfield, Kelly, Grezda |
| Forwards | Candeias, Morelos, Lafferty, Middleton |
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has familiar injury issues, with Jamie Murphy, Graham Dorrans and Eros Grezda all missing. Connor Goldson is also absent, while there are doubts over Borna Barisic.
After changing formation unsuccessfully in midweek, Gerrard must decide whether to persist or switch back to the 4-3-3 that brought joy during the first half of the season. If he plumps for the latter, either Alfredo Morelos or Jermain Defoe will need to be dropped.
Possible Rangers starting XI: McGregor; Tavernier, McAuley, Worrall, Halliday; Arfield; Jack, Davies; Kent; Morelos, Defoe
Betting & Match Odds
Rangers are priced as 4/9 favourites to win this game by bet365 . Livingston can be backed at 6/1 to spring an upset, while the draw is available at 10/3.
Match Preview
Getty Images
After finishing 2018 on a high by defeating Celtic 1-0 at Ibrox, Rangers seemed to have maintained the feel-good factor around the club during the winter break.
Steven Gerrard completed the high-profile captures of Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis from Bournemouth and Southampton respectively, but back in action on Wednesday they stumbled against Kilmarnock.
Defoe showed his poacher’s instinct to open the scoring, but the Gers ultimately succumbed 2-1, with Jordan Jones, who will sign for them in the summer, getting Killie’s winner.
Of course, Rangers were short on competitive football after their scheduled Scottish Cup tie at Cowdenbeath the previous Friday was frozen off, but it was clear that Gerrard expects a higher standard from his players.
“We deserve the criticism and have to suck the pain up over the coming days,” he said in the aftermath of the midweek loss.
“It’s even more painful because we had so much control in the first 15 minutes of the game and looked so good. One moment had a huge effect on us and that’s a concern.”
Gerrard also had to defend himself for changing the formation of the side from a 4-3-3 to a diamond midfield, allowing Defoe to partner top scorer Alfredo Morelos, who has been subject to a bid from Ligue 1 side Nice, in attack.
“There was a temptation to keep the same team but then if we lost having done that the accusation would have been that we were predictable given they had so much time to work on it,” he said.
“People will look at the formation and personnel and blame me, which they can, that's no problem.”
Livingston come into this game off the back of a poor run of form that has seen them go winless in their last five games. Indeed, they have lost all of their last three, including a 1-0 reverse at St Johnstone in midweek.
They will, however, draw hope from the 1-0 home victory over the Gers they achieved in September as they go for a double at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
-min.png?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)