The Scottish Premiership season gets underway tonight, with Celtic looking hunting down a sixth consecutive league title following the most dramatic of finishes on the final day of last season.Second placed Celtic hosted first placed Hearts in the final match of last season, the visitors only needing a point to win a first league title in 66 years, and even took the lead, before Martin O’Neill’s side turned the match around with a 3-1 win, scoring twice in the final three minutes.O’Neill is into his third spell as manager at Celtic Park following five successful years, the Northern Irishman returned last season 20 years later as caretaker manager in October and then again in January following the failure of Wilfried Nancy, and his since announced he’d stay for the duration of this season.This season preview will cover the title race, the unique split in the league towards the end of the campaign and how the league’s clubs will fair in Europe this season as well as the Scottish Premiership odds for the new campaign.Scottish Premiership title odds 2026/27Celtic will start the new campaign as odds-on favourites at most football betting sites for a sixth successive Scottish Premiership title and a record extending 57th league triumph, with O’Neill’s side starting off as 4/5 favourites with bet365 – quickly shortening to 1/3 after winning the first two.The same bookmaker are pricing Rangers as their closest challengers at 11/4 as they seek their first league title since 2021. The Ibrox side have made some shrewd signings and found a new manager in the off season, which may take a bit of tame to click, while Celtic have opted to stick with their manager and have kept the core of their squad.As alluded to earlier, Hearts missed out on a first league title since 1960 by the barest of margins in the final day of last season, but with their manager and top scorer both having moved to Rangers since their heartbreaking end to the season, they are less fancied to mount another title charge, with Sky Bet pricing them at 12/1.Celtic – 1/3 with bet365Rangers – 11/4 with BetfredHearts – 12/1 with Sky BetHibernian – 100/1 with BOYLE SportsAberdeen – 100/1 with Sky BetMotherwell – 150/1 with bet365*Odds correct as of 17th August but are subject to change.Celtic’s title defence and the Old Firm challengeCeltic, as they have been so often over the last couple of decades, head into the new season as the team to beat.The club have won 14 of the last 15 league titles in Scotland, including each of the last five, with their most dramatic of title victories last season also sealing a record breaking 56th in their history, taking them of Rangers in the overall tally for the first time in just shy of 100 years.Celtic under Martin O’NeillLast month, O’Neill confirmed he would carry on as Celtic boss this season following his success in the second half of last season which ultimately delivered a fourth league title to the club, 22 years after his most recent one.The Northern Irishman took over for a third spell at Celtic Park with the side six points behind league leaders Hearts, overtaking the Jam Tarts in the very final minutes of the Scottish Premiership season with a come-from-behind 3-1 win against their title rivals on the last day at Celtic Park.The defending champions have opted for continuity in the transfer market, making only two signings so far, the most notable being Kasper Hogh who gained notoriety scoring plenty of goals for Bodo/Glimt in their run to the last 16 of the Champions League.The defending champions kick off their title defence on Monday night with a home tie against Dundee. Back Celtic to retain the Scottish Premiership title at 4/5 with bet365 Rangers under Derek McInnesRangers scored more goals than anyone in the division last season (76, even more than champions Celtic) but drew 12 games and finished only 3rd. The verdict? Too many shared points, not a lack of firepower. Even so, the new boss McInnes has opted to bring in his top scorer from last season at Hearts, Lawrence Shankland, and made him club captain following the departure of James Tavernier. Shankland came within a goal of winning last season’s Golden Boot despite missing a large chunk of the campaign through injury.Six other new faces have come through the door at Ibrox this summer, with goalkeeper Ivor Pandur, right back Ross McCrorie and central midfielder Dan Neil all crossing the border from England to join the Premiership title challengers.Pandur and Neil both came from Premier League sides, the former playing every minute bar one match of Hull’s shock promotion winning campaign via the Championship play-offs which earned him a spot in Croatia’s World Cup squad, while the latter joins from Sunderland. Bet on Rangers to end Celtic’s run of titles at 5/4 with Betfred Hearts and the restHearts finished just two points behind Celtic last season but lost key players, and perhaps most notably their manager, this summer and have already seen their first taste of Champions League football in 20 years come to an abrupt end.The Edinburgh side were beaten 6-0 on aggregate by Austrian side Sturm Graz in the second round of their qualifying campaign, which has seen them transferred into Europa League qualifying, where they will take on former European champions Benfica on Thursday for the first leg of their third round qualifying match.Motherwell had the best defensive record in the division with 18 clean sheets, more than any other side and impressed with their fourth place finish. The Well have progressed in Europe following a 5-0 victory against last season’s runners up in the Faroe Islands to set up a tie against Finnish side HJK.Hibs are also successfully into the third round of Conference League qualifying, following a dramatic victory over Malisheva of Kosovo, overturning a 2-0 first leg deficit to advance 4-3 on aggregate, progressing to take on North Macedonian side Shkendija.Kilmarnock are a side who will back themselves to upset the odds after finishing last season so well.Killie were very much in a relegation dogfight before Neil McCann took over as manager in January, and worked wonders, winning six of their last eight home games to comfortably survive and appear to have done some shrewd business this summer, so may be one to watch. Back Hearts to go one better and win the Scottish Premiership at 13/2 with Sky Bet How the top six/bottom six split worksThe format of the Scottish Premiership is very different to how most of the big leagues across Europe work, due to only having 12 teams in it.The first 33 matches of the campaign are all very straightforward, each team playing every other side three times, alternating whether it’s at home or away.After 33 matches, the league splits into two – the top six and the bottom six. Each team then plays the other five teams in their section of the split on one further occasion.What’s notable about the split is that the top six teams and the bottom six teams in the table are locked in place no matter the number of points each team finishes on, making it possible for the seventh placed team to finish on more points than the team finishing sixth.StageWhat happensGames 1-33All 12 teams play each other three times (33 games)The splitLeague divides into top six and bottom six by positionGames 34-38Each team plays the other five in their group once moreBottom six ceilingCan’t finish higher than 7th, whatever their formScottish Premiership top scorer oddsMotherwell striker Tawanda Maswanhise was the recipient of the Golden Boot last season after firing 17 goals, just one more than both Celtic playmaker Benjamin Nygren and the new Rangers captain and Scotland international Shankland, the latter bagging 16 in just 28 matches.His new Gers teammate Youssef Chermiti finished just one goal behind him last year, with Hearts star Claudio Braga just a further goal behind, all of whom will be in the hunt for that Golden Boot once again.However, it’s Celtic’s new number nine – Kasper Høgh – who leads the odds for this season’s competition. The Norwegian, who arrived from last season’s Champions League giant killers Bodø/Glimt, has already notched three in his first two in Scotland.Kasper Høgh (Celtic) – 8/11 with Sky BetLawrence Shankland (Rangers) – 11/2 with BetwayBenjamin Nygren (Celtic) – 7/1 with BetwayCamilo Duran (Celtic) – 12/1 with Sky BetKevin Nisbet (Aberdeen) – 22/1 with Sky BetClaudio Braga (Hearts) – 22/1 with Sky BetScotland’s European contingent this seasonCeltic enter the Champions League this season at the play-off stage, the final round of qualifying before the league phase, for which they will find out their opponents in Wednesday’s draw, but know that they will be a seeded team, which should give them a kinder opposition.Rangers and Hearts will be competing in their first legs of the third qualifying round of the Europa League next week.Hearts’ European campaign began a fortnight ago but were heavily beaten over two legs by Sturm Graz in their Champions League second qualifying round, losing 6-0 on aggregate, thus being transferred into the Europa League where they face a tough test against Benfica.Rangers will be in Poland next week for their first leg against Jagiellonia Bialystock, who finished third in the Ekstraklasa last season, before both sides return to Scotland for their second legs next week.Motherwell and Hibernian both navigated their way through the second round of Conference League qualifying this week, though one made it look much more comfortable than the other.The North Lanarkshire side won their first leg 2-0 against HB Torshavn before winning 3-0 in the Faroe Islands on Thursday night, while Hibs were beaten 2-0 in Kosovo in their first leg against Malisheva, but a 4-1 win at Easter Road on Thursday saw them safely into the third round, having raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half.Motherwell will now travel to Finland to take on HJK in Thursday’s first leg, while the Edinburgh side will be at home in their first leg against Shkendija of North Macedonia.Like Celtic, all teams will find out their potential play-off round opponents on Wednesday.My Scottish Premiership tipsThe start of this season has a more open feel than any in recent memory, with last season’s three horse title race going down the last week attracting lots of external eyes to the league ready for more excitement this time out.Old Firm season seriesThe Old Firm derby, among the biggest sporting rivalries in Europe, perhaps even the world, is always the first thing to look out for when the new fixture list drops, and the first meeting between the two dominant forces of Scottish football takes place on 20th of September this season.The matches a typically very tough ones to predict with form, as cliche as it is, going out of the window.Celtic didn’t manage to win an Old Firm clash in the first stage of last season, despite going onto win the title, with two of the matches ending in stalemates.As boring as it may seem, a win for each team and a draw seems the most sensible shout for predicting the first three league Old Firm meetings this season.Best of the restWith Celtic and Rangers often running away with the top two spots in the division, the “Best of the Rest” market is a frequently visited one, where punters bet on which of the remaining 10 teams in the Premiership will finish highest in the table.This season it looks particularly difficult to look past Hearts, even though they’ve lost their manager and top scorer since last season, the side from the capital having come to within a matter of minutes of winning a first league title in 66 years last season.The Jam Tarts are odds on favourites at 4/11 with Betfred to finish highest in betting without Celtic or Rangers, though their city rivals Hibernian will have something to say about that. Bet on Hearts to finish third above all non-Old Firm teams at 4/11 with Betfred Top six finishDespite the season lasting 38 matches, a number of teams in the division will be most concerned by where they sit after 33 matches, due to the unique split that occurs at this stage of the season, cutting the league in half between the top six and bottom six.There are three teams that will feel almost guaranteed to achieve a top six finish this season, which leaves the nine teams fighting for the final three spots, and all of them will see themselves as genuine contenders for it.Hibernian and Aberdeen are both priced odds on take two of those, but the final spot is a particularly difficult one to call.Kilmarnock are one of the less fancied teams for it with the bookies but after their fantastic end to last season following the appointment of Neil McCann as manager, if they can continue that form into the start of this season they will find themselves seriously believing.Sky Sports are pricing them at 3/1 to force their way into that top six finish. Tip Kilmarnock for a top six finish in the Scottish Premiership at 3/1 with Sky Bet Key dates for the 2026/27 Scottish Premiership seasonThe Scottish Premiership campaign gets underway tonight with Rangers travelling to Dundee United to kick off the opening weekend, in which all six matches will be live on Sky Sports for the very first time.Five-time defending champions Celtic begin their campaign at home against Dundee on Monday night.The standout matches of the campaign no doubt come in the Old Firm derby, the first of which takes place at Celtic Park on 20th of September, before the rivalry moves to Ibrox on 2nd January, with the final pre-split meeting scheduled for the 27th February back at Parkhead.FAQs about the Scottish Premiership 2026/27 season1. When does the 2026/27 Scottish Premiership season start?The new Scottish Premiership season gets underway tonight, on Friday 31st July with Rangers taking on Dundee United at Tannadice Park. The other notable matches of the opening weekend see Hearts travel to Aberdeen on Saturday evening (5:30pm kick off) and reigning champions Celtic host Dundee on Monday night (7:30pm).2. Who are the favourites to win the Scottish Premiership this season?Celtic are the odds on favourites (8/11) to win a sixth consecutive league title, though are expected to face tough competition from Rangers (5/4), with Hearts, who came within minutes of winning the league last season, priced a little further afield but also considered outside contenders at 8/1.3. How does the top six/bottom six split work?33 games into the season, the league splits into the top six and the bottom six, with each team playing every team in their half of the table on one more occasion.After the split, the top six can finish no lower than sixth and the bottom six no higher than seventh, no matter what tally of points each team has.4. Where can UK fans watch Scottish Premiership matches?Live Scottish football on TV includes up to 82 live matches from the Scottish Premiership on Sky Sports and Premier Sports. Read more football during the 2026/27 seasonPremier League winner oddsPremier League top 4 oddsPremier League relegation oddsChampionship promotion oddsGolden Boot oddsCommercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to talkSPORT. 18+. T&Cs apply.Remember to gamble responsiblyA responsible gambler is someone who:Establishes time and monetary limits before playingOnly gambles with money they can afford to loseNever chase their lossesDoesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressedGamcare – www.gamcare.org.ukFind our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.