Last season saw the most dramatic Scottish Premiership campaign in recent history, with Hearts coming as close as anyone has since 1985 to breaking Celtic and Rangers’ duopoly on the title.
After leading the league for 250 days, they were pipped at the last by Celtic. Manager Derek McInnes and stars Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin have moved from Hearts to Rangers as they look to prevent Celtic winning a 15th Scottish Premiership title in 16 seasons.
Scottish Premiership Tips and Predictions
Outright Prediction: Celtic to win the Scottish Premiership (4/5)
Alternative Tip: Motherwell to finish in the top six (11/8)
Dark Horse Tip: Nathan Lowe top Scottish Premiership goalscorer (33/1)
Opening Weekend Fixtures
Dundee United v Rangers - Friday 8pm
Falkirk v St Mirren - Saturday 3pm
Aberdeen v Hearts - Saturday 5.30pm
St Johnstone v Kilmarnock - Sunday 2pm
Hibernian v Motherwell - Sunday 4.30pm
Celtic v Dundee - Monday 7.30pm
The new Scottish Premiership season starts with Rangers visiting Dundee United on Friday night and the opening weekend concludes with defending champions Celtic hosting Dundee on Monday.
Scottish Premiership Favourites
Celtic are 4/5 favourites to win the Scottish Premiership title for a sixth time on the bounce, while Rangers are 11/8 to win their first since 2020/21.
Hearts are 6/1 after coming so close last season while Hibs are 66/1 and it is 100/1 bar those four.
Top Goalscorer Favourites
Lawrence Shankland finished second in the race to be the Scottish Premiership’s top scorer last season with 16 and has been installed as 3/1 favourite to go one better this season after moving to Rangers.
New Celtic signing Kasper Hogh is 4/1 second-favourite while fellow Hoops star Benjamin Nygren is 8/1 alongside Rangers man Youssef Chermiti.
Data-Led Scottish Premiership Predictions & Analytics
The Scottish Premiership was decided by the smallest of margins last season, with teams such as Hearts’ increasing reliance on data giving them a real advantage.
On the eve of the new campaign, here’s what the data tells us about the leading contenders:
Celtic recorded an expected goals figure of 81 last season, comfortably the highest in the division. They also had the lowest expected goals allowed at 36.3.
Hearts and Rangers both excelled from set-pieces, scoring 23 goals from such situations last season, while Celtic managed just ten.
Motherwell conceded the fewest set-piece goals last term, just seven.
Only Celtic had a higher possession percentage than Motherwell’s 58 last season
Scottish Premiership Outright Prediction
Celtic have won 14 of the last 15 Scottish Premiership titles and despite issues between the board and fanbase, they look set to repeat the trick under Martin O’Neill.
The Hoops pipped Hearts last season with a dramatic final-day victory as O’Neill led them back from the brink after the disastrous reign of Wilfried Nancy.
Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh are very eye-catching signings up front and should soften the blow of Daizen Maeda’s departure.
Celtic were also racked by injury issues last season and the return of Cameron Carter-Vickers in particular is a huge boost.
Rangers have improved with the arrivals of Lawrence Shankland, Ivor Pandur, Dan Neil and Cammy Devlin but they were 10 points adrift of the worst Celtic team in recent memory and may struggle to bridge that gap.
Meanwhile, Hearts are likely to embark on a serious change of style under new manager Wouter Vracken and they have lost Shankland and Devlin. It may take them a year or two before they properly compete for the title again.
The Hoops have shown time and time again their ability to win the Scottish Premiership even when not being at their best and they should repeat the trick this term.
Alternative Tip
Motherwell threatened to make it a four-way title race last season under Jens Berthel Askou before falling away late on.
There has been a major turnover in their squad but new boss Alfred Johansson looks cut from the same cloth and they have made some smart signings.
Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen has arrived on loan from Bournemouth while former Rangers prodigy Alex Lowry will be looking to reignite his career.
It’s hard to see the Steelmen’s fall off being that dramatic and they should be able to retain their top-six status.
Dark Horses to Watch
The top goalscorer market is obviously dominated by Celtic and Rangers players but last year’s winner Tawanda Maswanhise plays for Motherwell so contenders from outside of the top teams can outrun their odds.
With that in mind, Nathan Lowe will be the focal point of Hibs’ attack this season and scored 15 goals on loan at Walsall two seasons ago. The physical young striker has some fine attacking talents around him such as Martin Boyle and Owen Elding.
They form a dynamic front three for the Hibees and Lowe could well be overpriced in the top goalscorer market.
Who Wins the Scottish Premiership?
Celtic are favourites to win this year’s Scottish Premiership once again but rivals Rangers are not far behind after securing Derek McInnes as their new boss. Hearts have struggled in Europe to start the season and could be set for a third-placed finish.
Hibs, Aberdeen and Motherwell look a little way behind and it may come down to the big two again.
Rangers have undergone wholesale changes and may take some time to bed in, while Martin O’Neill and the Bhoys are fancied to flex their financial might eventually and pull away from the pack once more.
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.
