Rangers head to East End Park to face Dunfermline in this live Boxing Day clash.
Alex McLeish has already spent some money on a new striker (Kris Boyd) but he can’t play until January 1st so won’t feature here.
Rangers now seem to be turning the corner after a terrible spell in the last couple of games while Dunfermline are struggling at the bottom of the SPL.
The Gers have won their last two SPL games against Kilmarnock (3-2) and Hearts (1-0) and should go into this one with renewed confidence after their bad spell.
Dunfermline lost their last game 2-1 against Dundee Utd in midweek and find themselves three points adrift at the bottom of the SPL behind closest rivals Livingston.
History is on Rangers side in this fixture, winning 35 of the 50 league games at East End Park. Dunfermline have won only 7 and there has been 8 draws. The last meeting at East End Park ended in a 1-0 win for Rangers in April this year. The only meeting this season took place at Ibrox with Rangers winning 5-1.
Vital Quotes:
Dunfermline Team News:
Goalkeeper Allan McGregor can’t play in this game due to being on loan from Rangers.
Dunfermline will be missing Yannick Zambernardi, Scott Morrison and Liam Horsted but Simon Donnelly should be fit for this game.
Player to watch: Noel Hunt
Always seems to raise his game against Rangers.
Rangers Team News:
Nacho Novo is expected to push for a place in the starting eleven but Rangers will still be without Alex Rae, Alan Hutton, Fernando Ricksen, Brahim Hemdani, Dado Prso, Julien Rodriguez and Olivier Bernard. Gavin Rae has made his comeback in a bounce game but still needs much more match practice.
Likely line-up (4-4-2):
Waterreus
Murray Andrews Kyrgiakos Smith
Burke Malcolm Ferguson Namouchi
Buffel Lovenkrands
Player to watch: Chris Burke
The youngster has put in some good performances down the wings in recent games.
Match Facts & Stats
Rangers record @ East End Park
Played 50
Won 35
Drawn 8
Lost 7
Goals For 129
Goals Against 46
Biggest Rangers wins @ East End Park
Dunfermline 0 Rangers 6, Sep 1st 2002
Dunfermline 1 Rangers 7, 1958/59
Dunfermline 1 Rangers 7, 1934/35
Last match @ East End Park
Dunfermline 0 Rangers 1, Apr 17th 2005
Previous results this season
Rangers 5 Dunfermline 1, Oct 1st 2005
Ref Watch:
Craig Thomson
Match Prediction:
Should be straight forward for Rangers, I’ll go for 3-1.
Next Fixtures:
Sat 31 Dec 2005 Dundee Utd (h)
Sat 7 Jan 2006 Peterhead (h) Sco Cup
Sun 15 Jan 2006 Motherwell (a)
Sat 21 Jan 2006 Livingston (h)
Sun 29 Jan 2006 Inverness CT (a)