Rangers v Kilmarnock, Naderi & Bartley in focus

One game - and an important one at that - has already been played in this full round of midweek Scottish Premiership fixtures, but Wednesday is where the majority of the action is found.

The big question is whether Rangers - who are home to Kilmarnock - can capitalise on Heart of Midlothian's slip up at St Mirren and Celtic's match against Aberdeen being called off.

Motherwell miss out on a chance to close the gap to the top of the league after their trip to Dundee was postponed when the pitch at Dens Park failed an inspection this afternoon.

Elsewhere, Marvin Bartley takes charge of Livingston for the first time at home to Falkirk ,and Hibernian continue life without Kieron Bowie against Dundee United.

Here are the key things to look out for in tonight's action.

Last week's draw at Hibs saw Rangers' recent resurgence hit a stutter as title rivals Hearts marched on and Celtic picked up three points to push Danny Rohl's side back into third place in the table.

This week, they could take advantage of Hearts' defeat to St Mirren and the fact Celtic are out of action and aren't likely to see their game against Aberdeen rescheduled for some time.

Rangers are looking to get back to winning ways after defeat at Porto and the draw at Easter Road but they have been in strong form at Ibrox, winning their last seven games in all competitions and unbeaten in Govan since early November. Rohl will be expecting three valuable points at home against a side who are at the opposite end of the table and winless in their last nine away games.

The manager will also take heart from a productive January transfer window where he managed to bring in players to address gaps in his squad, while also moving out a number of players who hadn't cut the mustard.

Rohl said he had "reduced the numbers but we increased the quality" in his squad and will expect to see the proof of that on Wednesday.

Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann was in the home dugout at Ibrox not too long ago when he was part of Barry Ferguson's staff at the tail end of last season but his focus will be on his team's current predicament.

He got his first win last weekend as Killie defeated Aberdeen 3-0 but the Rugby Park side remain in 11th place in the table and are six points behind Dundee.

"We're going there to play," said McCann. "We're going there to win the game and that belief will be instilled in them."

Taking a bit of a gamble here, because the interesting thing is whether Ryan Naderi actually features at all against Kilmarnock.

He has been signed from Hansa Rostock despite Rangers having number nines in Youssef Chermiti and Bojan Miovski at the club - but neither have scored regularly.

That was highlighted in the costly 0-0 draw with Hibernian last weekend - so does Danny Rohl throw his countryman straight in against Kilmarnock?

Chermiti was reticent to shoot when in space against Hibs and infuriated Rangers fans by hanging around the outside of the box in the final minutes of the game with his side desperate for a winner.

Or, does Rohl look at Rangers' paltry xG of 0.55 in that game and instead decide he needs to address the creativity in the side?

There is an argument to suggest Rangers need on-loan winger Andreas Skov Olsen to come to the party just as much as their new centre forward Naderi.

The Wolfsburg winger has looked pretty modest so far and Rohl is going to need at least one of him or Naderi to fire if they are to fight to the end in the title race.

Kilmarnock, boosted by their weekend win, will make life difficult for Rangers with a low block and the home side's ability to break that down will be the key to the game - and whether they too move within three points of Hearts.

It might be strange to say that a manager who has left with his side rooted to the bottom of the table is going to be a hard act to follow, but that is the case with David Martindale.

Livingston were relegated two seasons ago in fairly dispiriting fashion but Martindale stayed on and got Livi - who work with relatively small resources - promoted at the first time of asking.

He emphasised lessons had been learned from the 2023-24 season, but Livi are adrift at the foot of the Scottish Premiership table midway through their return to the top flight.

Martindale has moved aside to become sporting director and one of his coaches, Marvin Bartley, has taken over as manager.

Bartley was in charge of Queen of the South for 16 months and did a decent job before leaving in May 2024 after the Dumfries side finished seventh in Scottish League 1.

He returned to West Lothian as a coach earlier this season and is now in the hotseat.

Even if he just managed to create a relegation battle would be an achievement for Bartley, because at the moment, it just doesn't exist.

His more pressing task is to get the West Lothian club back up again next season. That work probably starts now for the eloquent Bartley, who is taking his first top-flight role with his predecessor 'upstairs'.

Elsewhere, Dundee United's Jim Goodwin will be keen to get a morale-boosting victory.

His side has lost their last three Premiership games, conceding eight goals and scoring none.

While in the relatively comfortable position of eighth in the table, St Mirren's win over Hearts on Tuesday has brought the Paisley side to within two points of United.

Any sort of relegation chat seems quite a distance off, but Goodwin will know the need to arrest their current league form quickly, especially if they want to be looking up rather than down.