Rangers vs Aberdeen Prediction: Rangers have nothing to lose

Two weeks after the Dons defeated Michael Beale's men at Pittodrie, the two teams will meet again at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon. As a result of that triumph, Aberdeen are riding a seven-game winning streak into Glasgow, while the hosts are coming off a Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Celtic.

On the day Celtic might win the Scottish Cup for the 53rd time, their Old Firm rivals Rangers will be eager to put up a big performance to detract from Celtic's success. No matter what Michael Beale's Rangers accomplish from here until the end of the season, Celtic will almost certainly win their 11th Premiership title in 12 years. Nonetheless, they will be motivated to complete the season on a high note. The Gers are second in the Scottish Premiership to Celtic by 13 points despite winning 25 of their 33 games and drawing four times. Rangers have a 26-point lead over third-placed Aberdeen, but they will be more concerned about the gap to league-leading Celtic, who have just lost once this season despite scoring 103 goals. Rangers enter Sunday's matchup on the heels of two straight losses at Aberdeen and in the Scottish Cup semi-finals against Celtic, so Beale's lads will be hungry to go back on the winning track.

It would be an understatement to say that Barry Robson, 44, has saved Aberdeen's season. Since replacing Jim Goodwin in January, Robson has drastically changed the team's performances and results. Robson was named the Dons' permanent manager earlier this month after he took over as interim manager after Goodwin was fired and led the team to eight wins in ten league games. Aberdeen has won seven straight games and now has a five-point advantage over fourth-place Hearts thanks to Robson's side keeping six clean sheets in that span. A fortnight ago, at Pittodrie, Aberdeen beat Rangers 2-0 despite having only 25% of the ball. The Dons' goal scorers were Liam Scales and Bojan Miovski. Aberdeen has won each of their previous three matches on the road, so they will be confident in their prospects of pulling off another upset against Rangers after suffering nine losses in 10 away league games.

With 54 head-to-head matchups over the past few seasons, Rangers have taken 29 victories to Aberdeen's 11. There were 14 games that were tied at the finish. In head-to-head competitions, Rangers have an 89-48 advantage in goals scored.

We expect the two sides to play well here, given that they have good players. However, with the visiting team in tearing form and having defeated Rangers late in April, we will not be surprised if they control the match here. Hence, a bet on both teams to score and a win or draw for Aberdeen.