Scottish Premiership Predictions & Betting tips
Check out our free prediction on the winner of the Scottish Premiership 2025-26, including the latest odds on the race to qualify for the Champions League, the winner of the Golden Boot and the potential relegation candidates. All the information you need for your sports betting can be found below.
Scottish Premiership 2025-26 Presentation and Predictions
The Scottish Premiership, also referred to as the William Hill Premiership, is the premier division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), which is responsible for organising and overseeing men’s professional football in Scotland. This league was established just over a decade ago in 2013 after a merger between the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League.
Comprising a total of 12 teams, each club competes in 38 matches per season, and since its inception, 16 different teams have participated in the league. The ‘Old Firm’ clubs have dominated the division in recent years, with Celtic currently holding the title as champions having won the league in 2024-25, their fourth consecutive title.
Check out our tips and football predictions for this season below.
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Outright Prediction: Who will win the 2025-26 Scottish Premiership title?
Unlike most other leagues across Europe which are largely quite competitive, the Scottish Premiership has been ruled in recent years by two clubs - Celtic and Rangers. These Glasgow rivals have finished in the top two spots at the end of every season since 2017-18 when Aberdeen claimed second place behind Celtic.
Celtic faced little resistance in the 2024-25 campaign as they cruised to their 55th league title, tying Rangers for the most all-time. It’s shaping up to be another two-horse race in 2025-26, although it remains to be seen if Rangers can realistically challenge Celtic over the course of a full 38-match season.
The defending champions added Kawasaki Frontale striker Shin Yamada to their ranks in the summer transfer window, as well as Nordsjaelland’s Benjamin Nygren and Kieran Tierney from Arsenal. With Brendan Rodgers still leading the show (11 trophies as Celtic boss including four league titles), the Bhoys are still undoubtedly the favourites heading into the new campaign. Our 2025-26 Scottish Premiership prediction: Celtic champions!
Scottish Premiership 2025-26 - odds on the winner
- Celtic - 1.28
- Rangers - 3.75
- Hearts - 21.00
- Hibernian - 67.00
- Aberdeen - 101.00
- Dundee United - 251.00
- Motherwell - 501.00
- Kilmarnock - 751.00
- St. Mirren - 751.00
- Dundee - 1001.00
- Falkirk - 1001.00
- Livingston - 1001.00
Odds taken from Bet365
Top Goalscorer prediction in the 2025-26 Scottish Premiership
Rangers’ Cyriel Dressers claimed top goalscorer honours in the 2024-25 campaign after finishing with an 18-goal tally. However, continued links with a transfer away puts his Rangers' future in doubt. For the 2025-26 season, it’s hard to go against one of the Celtic players such as Daizen Maeda, Adam Idah or one of the two new boys in Shin Yamada and Benjamin Nygren due to the high potential goal output by the defending champions (league high 112 goals last term). With that being said, Hearts’ Lawrence Shankland had a down year in the previous campaign, but the Scottish striker has a proven track record over the years which includes winning the award in the 2023-24 season. Shankland could be set for a bounce-back year, which would present some decent value.
Below is a list of players to watch out for who could challenge for the top goalscorer spot in the coming season:
- Cyriel Dressers (Rangers)
- Daizen Maeda (Celtic)
- Lawrence Shankland (Hearts)
- Simon Murray (Dundee)
- Martin Boyle (Hibs)
- Adam Idah (Celtic)
- Shin Yamada (Celtic)
- Danilo (Rangers)
- Hamza Igamane (Rangers)
- Benjamin Nygren (Celtic)
2025-26 Scottish Premiership top scorer - odds on the favourites
- Lawrence Shankland - 5.50
- Daizen Maeda - 6.50
- Cyriel Dressers - 7.00
- Hamza Igamane - 9.00
- Benjamin Nygren - 11.00
- Adam Idah - 13.00
- Danilo Pereira - 15.00
- Djeidi Gassama - 17.00
- Simon Murray - 21.00
- Shin Yamada - 21.00
Odds taken from Bet365
Scottish Premiership Top 2 Prediction: Which teams will qualify for the Champions League?
The winner of the Scottish Premiership will earn qualification to the Champions League play-off round, while the team that finishes as runners-up will enter the Champions League in the second qualifying round.
As usual, it's the Old Firm rivals that look to have seperated themselves from the rest and are the most likely contenders for the top two positions in the 2025-26 season. Aberdeen, who denied Celtic the treble by winning the Scottish FA Cup in dramatic fashion, could be a dark horse to break into the top two. However, to start the year, it's Celtic and Rangers as the main two teams to beat. Our Scottish Premiership top two prediction: Celtic and Rangers!
Who will be relegated to the Scottish Championship?
After back-to-back promotions, Falkirk are back in the Scottish top flight for the first time since the 2009-10 season. It’s been an exciting ride for fans of the Bairns, although they’re likely going to be in for a long season in 2025-26.
Their rapid rise through the ranks brings with it the risk of insufficient squad depth and the lack of enough SPFL quality talent. As this season’s newly-promoted team, they are the top candidate to suffer an immediate drop back down to the second division. Our Scottish Premiership relegation prediction: Falkirk!
Scottish Premiership 2025-26 - odds to finish bottom
- Dundee - 2.75
- Falkirk - 4.50
- Livingston - 5.00
- Kilmarnock - 8.00
- Motherwell - 11.00
- Dundee Utd - 11.00
- St Mirren - 12.00
- Aberdeen - 51.00
- Hibernian - 101.00
- Hearts - 151.00
- Rangers - 501.00
- Celtic - 1501.00
Odds taken from Bet365
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Beginners Guide to how the Scottish Premiership works
As briefly discussed earlier, the Scottish Premiership features 12 teams and each club competes in 38 matches per season. However, after 33 games, the league table is split into two halves with the teams finishing in the top six inserted into the Championship group while the bottom six form the Relegation group.
Each set of six teams will play against each other for the final five games of the campaign, and as the names of the groups suggest, the top six will be competing for the title, while the bottom six will be playing to avoid relegation.
Here is a quick overview of the format:
- After 33 games the Scottish Premiership is split into two groups (Championship and Relegation
- League winners will qualify for the Champions League play-off round
- Runners-up enter Champions League second qualifying round
- Third and fourth place enter the Conference League second qualifying round
- Second-bottom competes in Premiership play-off final
- The bottom club is relegated to the Championship
While the top spot in the Scottish Premiership has been dominated by Celtic in recent years, there is still plenty of incentive for the rest of the teams to do well, as the top four will be able to compete for a spot in Europe next season.
Tips for making accurate Scottish Premiership Predictions
Given that the Scottish Premiership has largely been dominated by familiar names over many seasons, searching for value in your predictions can sometimes be a little difficult. Here are a few factors to consider in your Scottish Premiership betting decisions.
- Favour teams closer to the top of the league standings
- Pay attention to the fixture schedule
- Consider other popular betting markets
- Take note of key player absences
- Make use of reliable statistics
Favour teams closer to the top of the league standings
Owing to the nature of the Scottish Premiership, there is a significant difference in the financial resources that teams have and this impacts how teams perform since clubs with greater resources are able to attract better players.
For example, Celtic are the richest club in the league and have a star-studded squad that rarely taste defeat. Last season saw them lose just four times in 38 outings across the entire season. Thus, a team’s position on the league table is often a much clearer indication of how a team is likely to perform in a given match, and it is arguable that there are far fewer upset results in the Scottish Premiership than most other European Leagues.
Pay attention to the fixture schedule
This leads on well from the point above, as teams closer to the bottom of the table often have a smaller squad of players that feature week in and week out and tight turnaround times can significantly affect their performances due to a lack of rest.
Conversely, teams at the top of the table, like Celtic, who are competing in this season’s Champions League, may give preference to bigger European matches over a league match against a side close to the foot of the table.
Consider other popular betting markets
Last season, Celtic and Rangers won 29 and 22 of their 38 league games respectively, and as a result, the odds for these teams are often very short given that they are expected to win the vast majority of their matches.
Therefore, considering other popular markets, such as the Over/Under, winning margins and handicap betting usually provide greater value and are not necessarily too tough to identify either.
For example, last season saw Celtic score 112 goals in the league, meaning they averaged 2.95 goals per match. This is a clear indication that matches involving the Hoops are more likely to end with over 2.5 goals.
Take note of key player absences
As is the case in any team sport, certain players are vital to the performance of their side and their absence can be a significant contributor to their downfall as well. Therefore, knowing the fitness status of key players can impact your betting success rate.
Pape Habib Gueye was a good example of this factor last season. The Senegalese striker scored five goals in the first five games of the season for Aberdeen before sustaining an injury that has ruled him out for up to three months. The result saw Aberdeen struggle for consistent goalscoring in his absence.
Make use of reliable statistics
The importance of using statistics to guide your betting decisions cannot be overstated but finding success in doing so weighs heavily on the reliability of the figures that you are using in your decision-making.
Be sure to only use stats and insights from trusted and verified sources, such as SportyTrader, to ensure that you have reliable information at hand to improve your chances of placing winning bets.
What not to do for your Scottish Premiership predictions
While it is important to make use of the tips mentioned above to help guide your betting decisions, it is equally essential to avoid the most common mistakes punters make when placing bets on the Scottish Premiership. These include:
- Chasing big odds on underdogs
- Betting without conducting analysis
- Failing to analyse team form
- Neglecting the fixture schedule
- Overlooking player absences
- Using unverified stats sources
- Only betting on the win/loss market
Indeed, these pitfalls may seem simple at first, but they are the main reasons that many punters are unable to find winning bets on a regular basis - so be sure you’re not one of them by avoiding these mistakes at all costs.
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Scottish Premiership predictions: Statistics you need to know
As touched on above, the use of statistics is a surefire way to improve your betting decisions, and below we’ve compiled a list of some of the most important figures from the recently completed 2024-25 season to give you a helping hand.
- A total of 675 goals were scored last season
- An average of 2.96 goals were scored per match
- The top two teams scored 28.4% of the total goals last season
- Home teams won 47% of their matches
- Away teams won 32% of their matches
- Draws accounted for 21% of results
- An average of 1.69 goals were scored by teams playing at home
- An average of 1.27 goals were scored by teams playing away
- Over 1.5 goals - 80% of matches
- Over 2.5 goals - 61% of matches
- Over 3.5 goals - 34% of matches
- Over 4.5 goals - 16% of matches
- Most frequent score: 1-1 (8.8%) and 1-2 (8.8%)
- Most frequent halftime score: 0-0 (23.7%)
- Goals per 15 minutes: 76-90' (24% of goals scored)
These are key figures to bear in mind when betting on this season’s Scottish Premiership. As you can see, the average goals scored saw a significant increase in the 2024-25 season, rising to 2.96 goals per match up from 2.76 in the prior season. Naturally, this also saw a rise in the over 2.5 goals statistic, which rose to 61% from 54%.
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In short: How to make better Scottish Premiership Predictions?
Making better predictions for the Scottish Premiership involves combining data analysis, knowledge of teams, and awareness of broader factors that may affect outcomes, as detailed in the tips and stats sections above.
It’s impossible to win every bet, but avoiding the common pitfalls and using reliable sources such as SportyTrader to give you a helping hand are certainly steps in the right direction!
Scottish Premiership (Scotland - Football): Predictions of the moment
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Scottish Premiership (Scotland - Football): Best odds
1.13
8.3
21
1.56
4.4
5.5
1.85
3.66
4.33
3.72
3.5
2.02
5
4.5
1.62
Scottish Premiership : Frequently Asked Questions
The league operates on a split format:
First 33 games: Each team plays the other 11 teams three times (home and away matches vary)
Final 5 games: After 33 matches, the league splits in two groups:
- Top Six (Championship) - Teams compete for the title and European spots
- Bottom Six (Relegation) - Teams compete to avoid relegation
Teams only play others in their respective group once the league splits.
Historically Celtic and Rangers have dominated the league. Matches between these sides are known as the ‘Old Firm Derby’ and have often decided the league winner.
- Celtic have won the Scottish top-flight title 55 times
- Rangers have won the Scottish top-flight title 55 times.
The team that finishes bottom of the table (12th overall) is automatically relegated to the Scottish Championship (second tier).
The team that finishes second bottom (11th overall) enters a two-legged playoff against the winner of the Championship playoffs for a chance to remain in the top flight.
- First Place: Enter the Champions League play-off round
- Second Place: Enter the Champions League second qualifying round
- Third and Fourth Place: Enter the Conference League second qualifying round
- Celtic Park (Glasgow) - capacity 60,832
- Ibrox Stadium (Glasgow) - capacity 50,817
- Pittodrie Stadium (Aberdeen) - capacity 20,866
- Tynecastle Park (Edinburgh) - capacity 19,852
The dominance of the Old Firm teams can be attributable to:
- Larger fanbases and financial resources
- Consistent participation in Europe which increases these clubs’ revenue
- Historical success created a cycle of dominance
