Rangers defensive crisis & wobbly Hearts – Scottish Premiership preview

As the Scottish Premiership’s upcoming series of fixtures gets closer, the hectic winter schedule is upon us.

At both the top and bottom of the division, three top-flight matches on Saturday and three more on Sunday will have significant consequences.

The match between these two teams at Tynecastle in August was undoubtedly the best of the season so far.

Motherwell’s Jens Berthel Askou’s team took the lead three goals later in the season with some of the free-flowing football we’ve come to expect from them, before Hearts came out on top to win the game thanks to Claudio Braga’s double.

This weekend they lock horns once more, with a high-scoring encounter hoped to follow.

Motherwell have won four of their previous five league games, including a 1-1 draw at Aberdeen, to move up to fourth place overall.

Hearts, in contrast, have experienced a first-ever stumble this season.

It was their first league defeat away from home last weekend, when they lost 1-0 to Pittodrie, and they have lost three of their four games since beating Celtic Celtic last month.

With a win, Hearts could surpass Celtic by seven points, but they could reduce that deficit to four when they take on Hibernian on Sunday.

Rangers struggled to get a 2-1 win over Livingston last weekend when they faced a new-look centre-back partnership with John Souttar and Derek Cornelius on the sidelines.

Nasser Djiga, who was signed from Peterborough in the summer on a four-year deal, and Emmanuel Fernandez, who were both on loan from Wolves.

However, both Livingston’s goals at Ibrox and Djiga’s 1-1 draw against Braga were obliterated by a simple long ball, which gave Gabriel Martinez the equalizer.

With seven goals in their previous three games, Falkirk will relish their chances against Rangers’ shaky defensive duo when they travel to Govan on Sunday.

Clinton Nsiala, who has only appeared in one matchday squad this season, would be Danny Rohl’s only other choice for the centre of defence.

Given their six straight defeats and subsequent drop, Kilmarnock boss Stuart Kettlewell has been the focus of a lot in recent weeks.

After falling to Falkirk 3-0 last weekend, they need to have a win-boosting performance and result at Rugby Park on Saturday. They are themselves winless in their previous three games.

After Yevhen Kucherenko was held accountable for all three of the Bairns’ selection errors, manager Jim Goodwin suffers headaches frequently.

Panutche Camara, who was unable to play for Falkirk due to his absence from the loss, may be back in contention. Since his summer arrival at Crawley Town, he has impressed.

If United want to take points from a bogey ground, they could use all of his combative qualities.

Since winning 4-2 in May 2016 and the first time this season in the league, they have won just once on the road at Rugby Park. They have lost seven of their previous top-flight appearances.