- 1 Hearts vs Rangers: McInnes returns to Tynecastle with a nine-game unbeaten run
- 2 Hearts: 22 league goals, 15 conceded and three senior defenders missing
- 3 Rangers: seven goals conceded in ten league games and three wins from five away days
- 4 Free Football Prediction: Hearts vs Rangers
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Hearts vs Rangers: McInnes returns to Tynecastle with a nine-game unbeaten run 
Four points separate second from third in the Scottish Premiership. Rangers have 23 from ten games, Hearts 19, and the gap to leaders Celtic is four points for one of them and eight for the other.
Wednesday’s meeting at Tynecastle Park kicks off at 20:00 UK time, and it brings Derek McInnes back to the club he left in the summer. Wouter Vrancken replaced him at Hearts, lost his first four games, and has since collected eight wins, five draws and three defeats in 16 matches.
McInnes had his own slow start at Ibrox. Rangers failed to win any of their first four games in all competitions, then beat St Mirren 5-1 in the League Cup second round and kicked on from there. Since then they’ve lost once in 12 and are unbeaten in nine, with eight wins and a 2-2 draw at Dundee.
The defensive gap between the two sides is wide. Rangers have conceded seven league goals in ten matches. Hearts have let in 15, and seven of those came in one afternoon at Celtic Park on 18 October.
Hearts have won the last two meetings at Tynecastle, and McInnes knows the ground better than anyone in the away dugout. “Hearts have such a strong home record,” he said at his pre-match press conference. “We went last season unbeaten at home and there’s a reason that.”
We think the injury lists decide this one more than the history. Hearts are missing up to eight players, several of them defenders, and that’s the wrong week to face a front line that put four past St Johnstone on Saturday.
Hearts: 22 league goals, 15 conceded and three senior defenders missing 
Only Celtic, with 25, have scored more league goals than Hearts’ 22. The attack runs through Claudio Braga, James Wilson, Josh McPake and Calvin Miller, and Vrancken is expected to start all four.
Braga and Miller scored the goals in Sunday’s 2-0 win at Motherwell. Braga headed in a Sabah Kerjota cross on 29 minutes for his fifth goal of the season, and Miller made it safe on 86 minutes with his seventh. It was Hearts’ first win in three games.
Before that, Hearts lost 7-1 at Celtic, 5-0 down at half-time, and then 2-0 at Trabzonspor in the Conference League. Vrancken said after Motherwell that the short turnaround and the trip back from Turkey had left several players in unfamiliar positions.
Craig Halkett has ruptured an Achilles tendon, Stuart Findlay has a groin problem, Oisin McEntee is out with a calf injury, and Blair Spittal, Tom Renaud, Ageu, Harry Milne and Christian Borchgrevink are also unavailable, so three senior defenders are missing from the back line.
The league form behind the 19 points is uneven: a 2-1 win over Dundee, a 2-1 defeat at Falkirk, a 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock, the 5-0 win over St Mirren, the Celtic defeat and the Motherwell win. Hearts have won two of their last five league games, drawing one and losing two, and they’ve conceded in three of those five.
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Rangers: seven goals conceded in ten league games and three wins from five away days 
Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0 at Ibrox on Saturday with 21 shots to nine and 61% of the ball. Kevin Kelsy scored twice, on 29 and 66 minutes, Ryan Naderi followed up a Minsu Kim shot on 61, and substitute Tochi Chukwuani added the fourth on 87.
Kim was involved in three of the four goals, and the partnership of Kelsy and Naderi up front has carried the scoring. Naderi has five goals in nine league games, Kelsy three in six. Naderi also scored the only goal at Celtic Park on 20 September.
The away record is the reason we lean towards the visitors. Rangers have won three and drawn two of their five league games on the road, and they haven’t lost away from Ibrox in the Premiership this season.
The 2-2 at Dundee on 17 October is the one recent blemish, and it came from errors rather than pressure: Callum Jones equalised after a Rangers mistake, and Dan Neil was at fault late on. Rangers had won seven straight before that afternoon.
Lawrence Shankland (hamstring), Youssef Chermiti (cruciate ligament), Daisuke Yokota (groin surgery), Jose Cifuentes (knee), Cameron Devlin and Ross McCrorie are all out for Rangers. With Shankland and Chermiti both missing, McInnes relies on Kelsy and Naderi, who scored three of the four goals on Saturday between them.
Probable lineup Hearts: Reus; Mato, Fagan-Walcott, McCart, Kingsley; Miller, Magnusson, Altena, McPake; Wilson, Braga
Probable lineup Rangers: Pandur; Sterling, Fernandez, Makhanya, Penrice; Raskin, Neil; Bouanani, Naderi, Kim; Kelsy
Free Football Prediction: Hearts vs Rangers
Our prediction: Rangers draw no bet
Rangers are unbeaten in nine, have conceded seven league goals all season and haven’t lost an away league game. Hearts have conceded 15 and will put out a back four missing Halkett, Findlay and McEntee.
Hearts score freely at home, they’ve won the last two meetings at Tynecastle, and Braga and Miller are both scoring. A draw is a realistic outcome, which is why we’re protecting the stake rather than backing Rangers outright.
We’d weigh the last nine Rangers matches more heavily than last season’s results at this ground. Rangers draw no bet is the pick, with a one-goal away win the likeliest score. Naderi, with five league goals and the winner at Celtic Park already this season, is the player we’d expect to decide it.
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