View: Rangers must be ready to roll their sleeves up vs Dundee United

Rangers take on Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday, and Danny Rohl must have his players ready to meet the challenge of Jim Goodwin’s aggressive Tangerines team.

It’s been a long old two weeks for fans of the Scottish Premiership, as the March international break has taken priority.

However, Scottish domestic football returns this weekend, and Rangers kick their title push run-in with an Ibrox encounter against Dundee United.

Goodwin’s side sit seventh in the table, and are still in with a mathematical chance of making the Championship play-off at the split in two games’ time.

But, the Tangerines have to win both of their remaining matches, as well as requiring Falkirk to lose both of theirs whilst also overturning a seven-goal swing on goal difference.

Why will Dundee United pose a physical test for Rangers?

Rangers are being backed to beat Dundee United, in what would be a first win for either side in this fixture this season.

Indeed, the previous two games have both finished in 2-2 draws, with late equalisers from James Tavernier and Nedim Bajrami rescuing Gers on both occasions respectively.

Goodwin’s gang will present a tough test for Rohl’s Rangers on Saturday, as the Terrors are one of the best teams in the Scottish Premiership in the physical side of the game.

Indeed, as per Sofascore, no team has averaged more interceptions (10.8) or clearances per game (37.9) in the league this season than Dundee United.

They also rank third for the most yellow cards awarded with 71, are fourth for fouls per game with 12.9 and fifth for tackles won per game with 16.6 respectively.

So, whilst they will come into the game as the underdogs, they’ll be quietly confident of making this match a nasty and unpleasant one to play in for Rangers, and potentially pinch a result off the back of that.

Where can Rangers hurt Dundee United?

Therefore, Rohl’s message to his Gers players will very much be one of, ‘don’t get drawn into a wrestling match with them, play your own game and beat them with your quality’.

So, how can they go about doing that, and where do Dundee United’s biggest weaknesses lie?

Well, they’re not particularly good at the back, with only Livingston, Kilmarnock and Dundee FC conceding more goals than United’s 48 this season.

They will also be happy for Rangers to have the ball, as they rank dead last in the Scottish top flight for average possession per game with 41 per cent, whereas Gers are third with 58.5 per cent.

United have also won just 47.3 per cent of their aerial duels this season, which compared to their 51.1 per cent of ground duels won, is a considerable difference, and something that Gers should look to exploit too.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Govan.