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St Johnstone v Rangers: Goals to dry up for the champions

Scottish Football RSS / / 11 January 2012 /

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Steve Lomas has won four of his eight SPL games at St Johnstone boss

Steve Lomas has won four of his eight SPL games at St Johnstone boss

"The loss to Celtic was simply the latest symptom of an unexpected bout of travel sickness, Rangers losing three of their last four on the road having won 14 in a row prior to that."

Rangers have an opportunity to at least briefly return to the top of the SPL at McDiarmid Park, but Michael Lintorn isn't convinced that they will take it...

St Johnstone v Rangers, Saturday 12:30 BST, ESPN, Match odds: St Johnstone [7.4], Rangers [1.53], The Draw [4.2]

Rangers' initial response to losing an SPL lead that they had held for over four months and which at one point had stood at 15 points with an Old Firm derby defeat to Celtic has been fairly impressive.

The pain of that blustery December night at Celtic Park in which their role in the title race suddenly switched from pacesetters to chasers has healed slightly due to a 3-0 victory over Motherwell and 4-0 Scottish Cup romp at Arbroath, but an away league fixture will provide the true test of their health.

Far from signalling the start of their demise, the loss to the new table-toppers was simply the latest symptom of an unexpected bout of travel sickness, Ally McCoist's side losing three of their last four on the road having won 14 in a row prior to that.

St Johnstone are definitely capable of punishing such problems and indeed will be more confident than most of taking some points off of the Gers having frustrated them at Ibrox in Steve Lomas' first match in charge, claiming a 0-0 draw.

Lomas hasn't found it easy since replacing Derek McInnes , however his team have hit form of late, winning three on the spin for the first time this season, and they sit fifth in the table with a game in hand on fourth-placed Hearts. There looks to be value therefore in laying their visitors at [1.55].

Over/under 2.5 goals

Rangers have scored seven without reply in 2012, but this is Nikica Jelavic and co's toughest task yet against opponents fresh from keeping consecutive SPL clean sheets.

The two meetings between the pair in the current campaign have produced only two goals and with just four of the champions' last 11 away league matches producing over 2.5 goals, unders appears to be the way to go at around [1.96].

Best Bet: Under 2.5 goals @ [1.96]
Other Recommended Bet: Lay Rangers to win @ [1.53]

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