Preview: St Mirren vs. Rangers – prediction, team news, lineups

Rangers will host St. Mirren at the SMISA Stadium in Paisley in the Scottish Premiership’s final game

on a packed Boxing Day. The visitors advanced to second place last week with 35 points after 16 games, while the hosts will start the match in sixth place with 24 points after 18 games.

Match preview

Oisin Smyth’s goal in the last minute of ordinary time gave St Mirren a last-minute victory over Ross County last week, putting them five points clear of the bottom half of the league.

Since the Saints also scored the game-winning goal in the final minute against St. Johnstone a week earlier and lost in stoppage time in their two previous games against Motherwell and Dundee United, late goals have become something of a recurring motif in their games.

The Buddies have now won seven of their last eighteen games this season, though, and a further three points here would be the first time they have won three straight league games since August 2022.

The hosts, however, have not defeated this opponent in their last 14 meetings in all competitions, 13

of which resulted in defeat, so it will not be an easy challenge given their record in this match.

Prior to this match, Stephen Robinson’s team had lost three of their previous five games at SMISA Stadium, where they have only managed 14 of a possible 27 points this season.

Rangers will have to play a total of 11 games over the following 36 days, both domestically and in Europe, starting with this game.

With a pivotal 1-0 victory over Dundee last weekend, the Gers recovered from their League Cup setback against Old Firm rivals Celtic and moved up to second position in the table for the first time this season.