Scottish Premiership 2024/25: Steve Davies' Predictions, Tips and Odds

The new Scottish Premiership season is upon us and Steve Davies expects the top end of the table to have a very familiar feel to it come the end of the campaign.

The Old Firm rivals are expected to blaze their usual trail at the top of the Scottish Premiership in 2024/25, with Celtic 4/9 to make it 13 titles in 14 years and 13/8 shots Rangers following them home.

Scottish Premiership betting tips and predictions

Hearts to win outright without Celtic and Rangers - 2/1

Hearts finished third - albeit a remote third - in 2023/24 and they should have little difficulty holding on to that 'honour' in 2024/25.

The Jambos will get an early opportunity to see if they can bridge the gap to the Old Firm - their first game of the season is at home to Rangers - but realistically they know that, as usual, the battle is for third spot.

Steven Naismith's men took it comfortably last term with 68 points, 17 points adrift of Rangers but 12 clear of fourth-placed Kilmarnock.

Talk has been constant all summer about the impending exit of top scorer Lawrence Shankland to Rangers, something Naismith has been adamant isn't going to happen.

And Hearts aren't short of options up front with Liam Boyce and Barrie McKay joined in the ranks by the likes of Yan Dhanda and Musa Drammeh.

They would like Shankland to stick around, but should still be superior to the Premiership's other nine sides even without him.

Aberdeen are seen as their nearest challengers but they too have spent the summer unsure over the future of their star striker, Bojan Miovski.

The Dons don't have European football this season having finished the wrong half of the end-of-season split and are under new management in the shape of Swede Jimmy Thelin.

Four straight wins in the League Cup is promising but they look to have too much ground to make up on Hearts, who will be consistent.

Dundee to finish in top six - 2/1

Dundee surprised many by finishing in the top six, impressive for something of a yo-yo club who last enjoyed a top-half finish in 2014/15.

Boss Tony Docherty says that will only mean something if they can repeat the feat and bring stability back to Dens Park.

Not having European football as a distraction can help the Dark Blues finish in the top six again, though there's more to believing in them than simply having Thursdays free.

They appear to have had a good window with Simon Murray acquired after a 14-goal league term with Ross County and he has hit the ground running with five goals in his last two matches in a League Cup group-stage campaign which yielded maximum points.

Ethan Ingram, signed from West Brom, looks like a class act on the right side of Docherty's midfield five and Ziyad Larkeche, a young graduate of the PSG system who spent last term at QPR, can shine on the left.

St Johnstone to finish bottom - 11/5

At the other end of the table, this season could spell the end of St Johnstone's 16-year stay in the top flight.

Saints only just avoided a play-off last season on goal difference ahead of Ross County, who are bullish about surprising a few teams this season, especially at their Dingwall home.

Saints are under new owners with a new direction and an almost entirely new squad, which has been formed with absolutely no guarantees of success.

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.