Eyes on Ibrox, McInnes' Kilmarnock return & Well striker in focus

International football has been put on the back burner for another month as the Scottish Premiership crashes back into focus.

We have five Saturday matches to dig our teeth into before Celtic's visit to Dundee on Sunday concludes the weekend action.

An intriguing contest at Ibrox, Derek McInnes' Kilmarnock return and a certain Premiership striker have grabbed our attention.

Here are our things to look out for...

Rangers were still able to ruin their fans' weekend without kicking a ball when the shock news of Steven Gerrard's rejection emerged on Saturday night.

It feels like a long time ago now that we watched Russell Martin get smuggled out of the Falkirk Stadium following a 1-1 draw last time out.

Martin was sacked hours later, ending a calamitous 123-day tenure with the Ibrox club eighth in the table after seven games played.

What next in this wild Rangers campaign, then? It is a visit from Dundee United on Saturday afternoon.

Youth coach Steven Smith has been taking training as the hierarchy hunt for a new first-team boss, with Kevin Muscat emerging as the favourite.

Reports suggest former Rangers full-back Muscat would see out the season at current club Shanghai Port before any potential move to Glasgow.

Muscat's side are closing in on another Chinese Super League title, leading the division by two points with just four games remaining.

The top-flight campaign in China ends on 22 November, but Rangers are in desperate need of immediate results as Hearts and Celtic pull away at the summit.

After an impressive fourth-placed finish last term, Jim Goodwin's new-look United started this season in similar fashion.

However, failure to beat Kilmarnock and Livingston in back-to-back home games has halted their momentum.

The Tannadice club have only won one of their last 21 away league games at Rangers, losing 10 of their last 11 since a 3-2 victory in April 2011.

Saturday evening (17:45 BST) marks Derek McInnes' return to Kilmarnock following his decision to depart Ayrshire for Edinburgh at the end of last season.

The Hearts boss is overseeing a stellar start to the campaign at Tynecastle, with his side leading the Premiership table by two points.

McInnes picked up a second straight manager of the month award this week. Meanwhile, pundits and fans have been tipping the former Aberdeen boss for the Rangers job.

The 54-year-old put the Hearts support at ease by saying he is fully committed to the club, and he can continue to fuel the feel-good factor within the fanbase with another win on Saturday.

McInnes has a remarkable record against his former side, losing just one of his past 30 top-flight matches against them, and he is unbeaten in his past 16 away games at Rugby Park.

To extend that streak, he will have to get the better of a Kilmarnock team who are third in the table after a very encouraging start under Stuart Kettlewell.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos could not buy a goal for Motherwell, but now he has three in two games.

The Australia striker's output was causing frustration among the Fir Park support, but his underlying data suggested a scoring run was on the way.

The 26-year-old, who had an injury-hit debut campaign in Scotland last term, leads the Premiership charts for expected goals (5.1) and expected goals per 90 minutes (0.94).

His double in the late 3-2 defeat at Celtic Park last time out means he has scored (three) or assisted (one) all four of his team's goals in their past two league matches.

The last non-Old Firm player to be directly involved in two or more goals in three successive Premiership appearances is ex-Hearts forward Liam Boyce in February 2020.

Stamatelopoulos will be aiming to maintain his recent upturn in form when Falkirk visit Fir Park on Saturday.