A Saturday night trip to Dens Park ended in minor disappointment for Rangers last weekend, as their 2-1 lead proved short-lived. The 2-2 draw kept Derek McInnes' side unbeaten but ended a run of seven straight wins. The bigger cost, though, was ground lost to Celtic, who opened up a four-point lead at the top by thrashing Hearts 7-1 on Sunday.
Seven days later, Rangers return home to face promoted St Johnstone for the first time in 21 months, with several players suffering from a sickness bug. The last time the Perth side visited, they were three goals down at half-time and pulled one back in the second half, extending Rangers' run of Ibrox wins to seven in a row. Like Dundee, Saints have started the season well and sit fifth. Simo Valakari has managed three matches against Rangers as St Johnstone boss and is still searching for his first point. Achieving that on Saturday would bolster their strong start and cause further ripples in the still early Scottish Premiership title race.
Thursday's defeats for Celtic and Hearts further highlighted Scotland's falling stock on the European stage. Celtic have lost three Europa League matches in a row, in stark contrast to their Premiership defence, where they have dropped only three points so far. The thrashing of last season's runners-up Hearts only reinforced how difficult it will be for anyone else to win the league this term.
Struggling Hibernian host Martin O'Neill's side on Sunday. New Easter Road manager Marink Reedijk has lost his first two games in charge and is seeking to halt a run of six Premiership games without a win, with just one draw in that time. Hibs have spent the highest proportion of their match time losing this season (49.7%), so they face the more daunting task. The same is true of Motherwell, who have lost five on the bounce and put manager Alfred Johansson under pressure after an otherwise bright start. Visiting Hearts have gone four away games without a win and have won two of their last 10 on the road in all competitions. However, they are unbeaten in seven against Well, although three of their four meetings last season were draws and their last three visits have also ended level. The big question for Wouter Vrancken's side is how they respond to Sunday's heavy defeat at Celtic Park and the 2-0 Conference League loss away to Trabzonspor.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing