Scottish League Cup Betting at Paddy Power
Life at Hearts is hardly a bed of roses at present.
Level on points with bottom club St Mirren, they’ve managed just one win in the league all season and have just sacked Craig Levein from his role as manager and director of football. Bizarrely, however, the 55-year-old will stay at Tynecastle until his contract expires next summer and will work on player development. The timing of the sacking is hardly ideal and the situation is extremely unusual and it will now be Levein’s assistant Austin McPhee, who has been part of the Northern Ireland set-up for a while, overseeing the first team when they take on Rangers in the second of this weekend’s Betfred League Cup semi-finals at Hampden.
Hearts Form and Team News
The pressure seems to grown on the Jam Tarts week-by-week and, though a cup semi-final is a distraction to their league woes, another defeat would hardly help team morale.
Chairperson Ann Budge is already searching for a new boss and one name likely to be in the hat is Jack Ross. Recently sacked by Sunderland, he managed to get St Mirren promoted to the Premiership in his time in Paisley and would probably welcome a move back north of the border. Motherwell’s Stephen Robinson could be another candidate.
Attention, however, has to be on Hampden and Rangers this weekend. Last October, Hearts were top of the Scottish Premiership and in a League Cup semi-final but they have won just once in the league since March and have managed just one goal in their last five matches.
Steven Naismith, John Souttar, Christophe Berra, Jamie Walker and Craig Halkett have all spent long periods of time on the treatment table and star striker Uche Ikpeazu has also had his problems but Hearts’ squad depth is probably greater than any other team in the Premiership outside the Old Firm so it’s difficult to put a finger on what has exactly gone wrong. But what will give the Edinburgh side some encouragement is that they held Rangers at Tynecastle less than two weeks ago and largely kept their much-vaunted attack at arm’s length.
Rangers Form and Team News
The Gers have only lost two matches all season, one against Celtic and one against Young Boys in Switzerland.
They tore Ross County to shreds in the Highlands on Wednesday, despite making several changes. Ryan Jack celebrated his recall by netting twice and there was also a brace from the reinstated Alfredo Morelos. The Colombian has now scored eight times in the Premiership this season but trails team-mate Jermaine Defoe by two.
Jack, Ryan Kent, Conor Goldson, captain James Tavernier and Borna Barisic are also key players for Steven Gerrard’s team but goalkeeper Allan McGregor is struggling to be fit for the weekend and could again be replaced by Wes Foderingham.
The League Cup has not been a particularly lucky competition for Rangers and they are seeking a first win since the 2010-11 season. It’s vital that Rangers start picking up some silverware to complete their renaissance but the odds are heavily stacked in their favour to reach the final of at least one tournament this season as they could hardly have been handed a better semi-final draw. Complacency did, however, lead them to losing a League Cup semi-final with Aberdeen a year ago.
Hearts vs Rangers Live Stats & Betting Odds
Hearts vs Rangers Head-to-Heads
Hearts draw with Rangers last month was the first time they had avoided defeat against the Glasgow giants in eight matches. All of those matches produced at least two goals and five of the last six have produced three or more. Hearts have kept just one clean sheet against Rangers in 12 attempts. The teams lastb met in the semi-finals of the League Cup in 2008 when Rangers won 2-0.
Hearts vs Rangers Current Best Match Odds
Hearts 11/1, Draw 9/2, Rangers 3/10 (Odds correct at 6pm November 1)
Hearts vs Rangers Predictions
Hearts fans won’t be travelling to Hampden with any great hopes of success but maybe the players will perform for once with the chance of impressing potential new managers. Rangers have form for disappointing in semi-finals when hot favourites so this shouldn’t be viewed as a foregone conclusion but there will be questions asked if they don’t see off the Jam Tarts give the turmoil this week at Tynecastle.
Rangers are a general Evens to Win To Nil and Ryan Kent is 9/4 with Paddy Power to be an Anytime Goalscorer.
