Scottish Premiership Ante-Post Tips 2022/23

The Scottish Premiership gets underway this weekend which gives punters just enough time to get their pre-season bets on. Predicting the league winner is a toss of the coin but I’ll also be delving into other markets such as the top scorer, teams to be relegated and more.

If you’re looking for a bookmaker to bet on the Scottish Premiership with, we fully recommend Betfred. They have some excellent offers, extremely competitive odds and are set to have some great World Cup betting promotions in the lead up to and throughout the tournament.

Scottish Premiership Winner Prediction

The Scottish premiership has been a two-horse race for some time now and you have to go all the way back to the 1983/84 season to find a time when another team managed to break the long-running trend.

To date, Rangers have collected 55 league titles and rivals Celtic have picked up 52, including last season when the Bhoys topped the table by four points.

Following a run of nine consecutive league titles, Celtic succumbed to an emphatic season by Rangers in 2020/21 who collected an impressive 102 points throughout the season, winning the league comfortably by 25 points. They managed to claim back the title last season and head into this campaign as the bookies’ favourites but it’s set to be another close contest.

After their title win, Rangers headed into last season as 4-9 favourites to retain it. A similar situation has come around again with Celtic priced at 4/6 and the Gers a best price of 13/10. However, it could come down to the wire.

Given the difference in quality between the top two and other teams in the league, titles are often decided by the outcome of the Old Firm derbies. Last season, Celtic won two of the head-to-heads and Rangers one with the final match ending in a 1-1 draw. However, Rangers were in action in Europe prior to several of those derbies which although not an excuse, should be taken into consideration. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side made it all the way through to the final of the Europa League, beating the likes of RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund along the way, whereas Celtic went out of the Champions League in the second qualifying round and failed to get past the group stages of the Europa League, thus allowing them to fully commit to their league title pursuit.

That said, Celtic were the better team of the two in the league last season and their superior goal difference of +70 compared to Rangers’ +49 can’t be ignored. They’ve also bolstered their squad with the permanent signings of Jota from Benfica, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Daizen Maeda after the trio had successful loan spells at Celtic Park and they’ve also brought in FC Lorient centre-back Moritz Jenz and left-back Alexandro Bernabéi amongst others.

One last thing to consider is this year’s World Cup. Celtic are set to lose several more players than their rivals with the likes of Josip Juaranovic and Carter-Vickers likely to join the USA in their campaign and all of Yosuke Ideguchi, Kyogo Furuhashi, Maeda and Reo Hatate set to be called up by Japan. Of course, the league will be at a standstill throughout the tournament but the fresh legs of the Rangers squad may give the extra edge that is so vital in this league.

As for a league winner, I’m a little torn. Celtic are, in my opinion, the most likely to top the table but I think it will be a close season. Despite the not so favourable odds, I am willing to back the Bhoys to win their 53rd league title.

Prediction:

• Celtic @ 4/6 with Betfair Sportsbook

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Betting Without Celtic/Rangers Prediction

A much more attractive market in the Scottish Premiership is ‘Betting Without Celtic & Ranges’. Remove those two and there are many more options to consider with Hearts (6/4), Hibs (4/1) and Aberdeen (4/1) all in with a good chance of finishing in the top 3.

Out of the three, Hearts were the team that excelled last season, finishing third in the league, 16 points ahead of Hibernian and picking up 20 more than Aberdeen. It wasn’t the best of seasons for the Dons but they’re probably the team that has recruited the best in the transfer window. Jim Goodwin, who replaced Stephen Glass as manager earlier this year, has brought in players in most areas of the field with centre-back Anthony Stewart (Wycombe) and Liam Scales (Celtic) strengthening their back line along with right-back Jayden Richardson, defensive midfielder Ylber Ramadani signing from MTK Budapest and centre-forward duo Bojan Miovski and Duk being brought in to provide goals.

The race for third place should be a lot closer than last season and so I’d rather take 4/1 on Aberdeen than a rather short 6/4 on Hearts.

Prediction:

• Aberdeen @ 4/1 with William Hill

To Finish Bottom Prediction

Excluding relegated Dundee, there were just 13 points separating 4th and 11th place in the the Scottish Premiership table last season, and just 7 points between 4th & 10th, which makes predicting which team will finish 12th a tricky proposition.

Ross County are the bookies’ favourites to finish bottom of the table but they have brought in players that could help them steer clear of the drop and improve on their poor end to last season.

Newly promoted side Kilmarnock are back in the top-flight and many expect Killie to have a reasonably good season under boss Derek McInnes.

For me, it is between St Mirren and St Johnstone for the drop, both of which are priced at 4/1 and I’m siding with the latter.

St Johnstone achieved the domestic cup double back in 2020/21 but since then they have lost players and unable to build on those successes. They were propped up from the bottom only by Dundee last season and had the lowest scoring record in the league by some margin, finding the net just 24 times in 38 games.

Prediction:

• St Johnstone @ 4/1 with William Hill

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Top Scorer Prediction

Two likely contenders for top scorer in the Scottish Premiership this season are Celtic’s Giorgos Giakoumakis (6/1) and Kyogo Furuhashi (7/2).

Giakoumakis finished last season as the leagues joint top scorer along with former Ross County player Regan Charles-Cook. However, the Celtic forward played just 21 games compared to Charles-Cook’s 37, gaining him an average of 1.11 goals per 90-minutes played which was the highest in the league.

Furuhashi bagged one goal less than Giakoumakis but also missed several games through injury, starting 16 of Celtic’s league matches throughout the season.

Both players should be in the mix this coming season and if I had to pick one, my money would be on Giakoumakis at best odds of 6/1 with Bet365.

Prediction:

• Giorgos Giakoumakis @ 6/1 with Bet365

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