Rangers v Liverpool predictions: Set-piece specialist could breach rusty Reds

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Rangers v Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 2, 8pm Wednesday

Best bet

James Tavernier to score a goal
1pt 6-1 bet365

Team news

Rangers
Tom Lawrence and John Souttar are out. Iannis Hagi and Filip Helander are long-term crocks.

Liverpool
Luis Diaz, Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold have joined Arthur Melo, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the sidelines. Andrew Robertson and Curtis Jones are back in training.

Match preview

Liverpool's stuttering defence suffered another malfunction at the weekend and that should give Rangers hope that they can finally break their Champions League goal duck at a rocking Ibrox.

The Gers have fired three blanks so far in their Group A campaign, the only crumb of comfort being that a sequence of defeats that reads 0-4, 0-3, 0-2 is at least showing signs of improvement.

Qualification for the last 16, pretty much a pipe dream from the off against opponents of the calibre of Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax, has been all but ruled out by the halfway stage.

But the Gers would love to get a point, or simply just a goal, and while the first part of that equation might be beyond them in Glasgow, they can achieve the second.

And if there's one man who's worth backing at a nice price to hit the back of the Liverpool net it's roving wing-back, set-piece specialist, penalty taker and consistent scorer James Tavernier.

The 30-year-old has hit ten goals or more in five of his last seven campaigns, a seriously impressive return no matter what the standard of opponent.

The fact is that Rangers, who were pretty dire at Anfield last week in a 2-0 loss, should be far more positive at home where they can score goals in this competition, as evidenced by a 3-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise and a 2-2 draw with PSV in the qualifying stages. Tavernier opened the scoring against the Belgians.

And Liverpool look at a lower ebb than they have done for many a long year.

They still should have too much for the Gers in what may well be a high-scoring contest, but they are getting exposed far too often and far too easily. Three members of Klopp's first-choice back four – Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip and Andrew Robertson – are missing on Wednesday evening. The Gers have every reason to be positive and they should carve out chances.

Both teams have scored in nine of Liverpool's 12 matches this season. They have conceded 18 goals over that period.

And next up on Sunday, less than four full days away, is a visit from Manchester City, a fixture that Klopp can't be thinking about because the Reds still have work to do to fend off Ajax for a last-16 place in this competition. These are worrying times for Klopp.

Even without Luis Diaz there is still enough combined firepower from Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez to terrify the 'Gers defence, and the visitors will carve out copious chances because they will dominate the ball.

But they aren't performing like a team worthy of backing at 4-11 and they were clearly scarred by losing – and being well beaten – at Arsenal on Sunday.

Liverpool are easy to fancy but not too easy to trust and Rangers can play their part in a decent contest with Tavernier at the heart of their best stuff.

Key stat

Both teams have scored in nine of Liverpool's 12 matches this season.

Inside info

Rangers

Penalty taker James Tavernier
Assist ace James Tavernier
Set-piece aerial threat Connor Goldson
Card magnet Connor Goldson

Liverpool

Penalty taker Mohamed Salah
Assist ace Roberto Firmino
Set-piece aerial threat Virgil van Dijk
Card magnet Virgil van Dijk

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