Overview
- The Scottish Premiership opener between Dundee United and Rangers is set for 8pm BST on Friday, July 31 at Tannadice and will be shown live on Sky Sports.
- Derek McInnes will be in the dugout after successfully appealing a ban and has named Lawrence Shankland club captain ahead of his first competitive game in charge.
- Rangers have reinforced across defence and midfield with signings such as Ivor Pandur, Ben Godfrey, Ross McCrorie, Dan Neil and Olwethu Makhanya but remain short of specialist attacking recruits.
- Dundee United arrive with a heavily changed squad, recent League Cup matches that gave competitive minutes and a manager, Jim Goodwin, who says he intends to make life difficult for the visitors; United have not beaten Rangers in their last 13 meetings.
- Pre-match markets and pundits favour Rangers and a positive result would offer immediate confidence for McInnes' project and ahead of upcoming European qualifiers, while a poor start would increase pressure on the rebuild.