SCOTTISH LEAGUE BETTING PICK - GRETNA V GLASGOW RANGERS

Scottish League

2008-01-16 - Gretna vs Glasgow Rangers

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

GRETNA v GLASGOW RANGERS
Scottish Premier League
Kickoff 19:45 GMT

GRETNA

Gretna have really struggled to make an impact in the Scottish Premier League this season and currently prop up the division with 11 points separating them from Hearts in the position directly above them. They have only managed to pick up 10 points from a possible 60. Gretna are 1-2-6 at home, home being Motherwell's Fir Park, and have only scored 8 while conceding 19.

Gretna have won 1 game in 14 in all competitions but will be buoyed by the fact that they have drawn their last 2 at home. 4 of their 6 defeats at home have been by a single goal and Celtic only managed a 1-2 win here earlier this season. They have lost their last 2 games by 3-0 scorelines which stopped their run of 1 defeat in 5 games.

Kyle Naughton has been brought in on loan by Gretna and is in the squad. Martin Canning is looking for his first appearance of the season after recently recovering from ankle surgery.

GLASGOW RANGERS

Rangers will finally get a chance to extend their lead at the top of the division to 4 points after seeing their last 2 games being called off due to the extreme rain affecting Scotland. They are nigh on impossible to beat at Ibrox by their domestic competition with 10 wins from 11 but are only 4-2-2 away from home with 15 goals scored and 11 conceded.

Rangers have won 4 of their last 5 games since being knocked into the UEFA Cup with a 0-3 home defeat to Lyon. They are unbeaten in 4 domestic away games, winning 3 of them, since that defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice. Generally they have won their away games by the odd goal although they have won well at Falkirk and Inverness this season. Rangers have scored at least 2 times in 4 of their last 5 games, but they have only had 1 clean sheet in all of their away games this season.

Steven Whitaker takes over from Alan Hutton as right back since Hutton starts his suspension. Lee McCulloch also serves a suspension.

HEAD TO HEAD

Rangers beat Gretna 4-0 when the teams met at Ibrox earlier this season.

PREDICTION :

Rangers will be expected to win this game and I do not doubt they will. The team has been forced to miss 2 matches due to the weather and should be itching to get going again.

Gretna look overmatched for this league at the moment and are very likely to go down. They seem to have fight, but are not good enough to hold teams at home and are much easier to dispatch away from home.

Rangers have struggled to win well away, usually happy to do what they must to take 3 points.

Gretna rarely lose by more than 1 at home, and Celtic struggled to a 1-2 win here too, so I will take the Asian Handicap price.

The Pick :