Aberdeen vs Rangers Prediction: Tough top table match expected

On Tuesday, in the Scottish Premiership, Aberdeen will play host to Rangers, and the visitors will be looking to close the gap on Celtic, who are currently in first place. In the meantime, the hosts will be looking to get back on track after suffering a loss to the defending champions over the weekend.

In fact, despite putting in an exceptionally disciplined defensive performance at Pittodrie Stadium in their first game back from the World Cup-mandated break, the Dons were defeated by Celtic with the game-winning goal scored by Callum McGregor in the 87th minute. Even though they were playing on their own field, Jim Goodwin's team only had 19% possession of the ball and managed to get off only two shots on goal while Kelle Roos made save after save for Aberdeen. But in the end, Celtic's pressure paid off when their captain scored with only three minutes of regular time left to play, leaving their opponents potentially mentally and physically spent ahead of another difficult game this week. However, given that they were able to keep the Gers scoreless in their most recent match against them at their stadium in January earlier this year, there is every possibility that Scotland's third-placed side will be able to pull off an upset on Tuesday.

Rangers won 3-2 against Hibernian on Thursday, their first game back from the break since hiring Michael Beale away from Queens Park Rangers to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst as manager. Both times the visitors took the lead in the first half at Ibrox Stadium, and fast goals from Ryan Jack and Alfredo Morelos before and beyond the hour mark gave Beale an important victory in his first game in charge. The trip to Aberdeen on Tuesday presents a wonderful opportunity to put pressure on Celtic before their match against Livingston less than 24 hours later. Aberdeen is now nine points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership. The two Glasgow teams will face each other in a few weeks, and Beale's squad can't afford any more setbacks if they want to catch up to Ange Postecoglou's squad before the season ends.

We think Aberdeen may struggle to hold out as long against Rangers given the short turnaround between games after suffering a cruel late loss to Celtic at the weekend. In fact, Beale's squad has had two more days of rest than their upcoming opponents, which could be crucial as they try to catch their great rivals at the top of the table.