This will be the fifth time that Dundee United have faced Rangers on MD1 of a league season, while they failed to win any of the previous four (D2 L2), most recently a 1-1 draw in 1987-88.

Rangers are unbeaten in their last 13 league meetings with Dundee United (W9 D4) since a 0-1 defeat in August 2021 under Steven Gerrard.

This will be the first MD1 Scottish Premiership game played on a Friday since the 2013-14 season, when Dundee United played out a goalless draw with Partick Thistle. Indeed, since and including that year, the Tangerines have drawn six of their last nine MD1 games in the competition (W1 L2), including each of their last four in a row.

This will be Rangers’ 10th league match played in the month of July in their history. They have won eight of the previous nine, failing only in a 1-1 draw with Heart of Midlothian in 2011.

This will be Derek McInnes’ first league game as Rangers manager. The last manager to lose their first top-flight league match in charge of the club was Graeme Murty in February 2017 (1-2 v Dundee), with 11 Gers bosses avoiding defeat in their first since (W8 D3). McInnes has only lost one of his last 15 Scottish Premiership games against Dundee United (W8 D6), a 0-4 defeat with Kilmarnock in November 2022.