Who will win the 2022/23 Scottish Premiership title? Race for third, the top half & relegation battle analysed

Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and the rest of Scottish football’s top flight return to action this weekend.
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The 2022/23 Scottish Premiership season kicks off this weekend and it’s sure to be another brilliant season in Scottish football’s top flight.

Rangers get the action underway on Saturday with the early kick off against Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena while defending champions Celtic are at home to a rejuvenated Aberdeen on Sunday.

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In between there are other fascinating opening games as Hibs travel to St Johnstone, Hearts host Ross County, Dundee United head to Kilmarnock and St Mirren welcome Motherwell.

Ahead of the season kicking off we are taking a deep dive into all 12 clubs and predicting who will be crowned champions, who is fighting to be the ‘best of the rest’ and make the top half and who is in danger of relegation.

Here is how we see the new Scottish top flight season panning out:

Who will win the Scottish Premiership?

Celtic are the defending champions but can they hang on to their title this season?  Celtic are the defending champions but can they hang on to their title this season?
Celtic are the defending champions but can they hang on to their title this season?

Unsurprisingly, it looks once again like the Scottish top flight is headed for a two horse race between the two Old Firm clubs.

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Celtic are defending their title while Rangers will be hoping to wrestle it back and claim league championship number 56.

The gap between the two when the curtain came down on the 2021/22 campaign was just four points and it looks like there’s every chance that will be narrowed even more rather than opened up this season.

The Hoops have done some great transfer business by signing loanees Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota on permanent deals, with the capture of the Portuguese attacker a particularly pleasing move.

The former Benfica man won three SPFL Premiership Player of the Month awards last season, scored ten goals and lit up the league with his dribbling skills and technique.

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Rangers have also made moves to strengthen by bringing in the likes of Ben Davies, Ridvan Yilmaz and Antonio Colak but, although they raked in significant transfer income through the sales of both, will feel the losses of Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo hit hard.

The former Charlton Athletic man in particular was a crucial part of Rangers midfield and an invaluable attacking outlet last season.

With that in mind, although it will likely be a competitive battle between the two that could go right down to the wire it feels like Celtic might just have enough to get over the line in first place.

Who will finish third and can anyone challenge the Old Firm’s dominance?

Can Hearts challenge Celtic and Rangers or will they do well to hold on to their ‘best of the rest’ tag? Can Hearts challenge Celtic and Rangers or will they do well to hold on to their ‘best of the rest’ tag?
Can Hearts challenge Celtic and Rangers or will they do well to hold on to their ‘best of the rest’ tag?

There are a few voices in the Heart of Midlothian camp that believe the Jambos should be aiming upwards after comfortably strolling to third place last season.

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Not only does that feel optimistic, and some will no doubt claim it to be ‘tongue in cheek’, but it also smacks of misplaced arrogance for one particular reason.

The 13 point gap by which they finished third was very much a reflection on the poor performances of the other teams in the division rather than their own brilliance.

Although the Tynecastle club were strong, consistent and able to go toe-to-toe with the big two on their day they still finished a whopping 28 points behind Rangers in second.

They only won 17 of their 38 league games (less than half) and would probably have been there for the taking if other teams could have mounted a serious challenge.

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Signing Lawrence Shankland feels like a good move, he is a Scotland international after all, but don’t forget he’s never been able to score with any real frequency in the Scottish top flight, so there is a risky element to it.

So, what about the sides who could challenge them, particularly the two other clubs for whom a third place finish should always be their goal - Aberdeen and Hibernian.

The Dons were down right dismall under Stephen Glass last season and were lucky not to be dragged into a relegation battle which looked like a real possibility at times.

They sacked the former Newcastle winger and brought in Jim Goodwin towards the end of the campaign but by that point several players had already downed tools and the Irishman couldn’t turn their fortunes around.

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Now, they’ve lost key individuals in Calvin Ramsay and Lewis Ferguson, but Goodwin has also been able to clear out several of the under-performing players and the club have backed him to shape the team in his vision with some exciting new signings, such as North Macedonian international striker Bojan Miovski.

They strolled through their Premier Sports Cup group stage without conceding a goal and are quite clearly transformed from the shambles of last season - they are comfortably the favourites to challenge Hearts for that third spot and it shows that the Edinburgh side should be looking over their shoulders rather than up at the top two.

As for the Jambos’ Edinburgh rivals, they were another side with renewed optimism with former Sunderland boss Lee Johnson putting his mark on the first team at Easter Road.

However, alarm bells are ringing after a disastrous Premier Sports Cup group stage where they were beaten by League One Falkirk and failed to make it out of their group.

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It would be premature to read too much into the success of Aberdeen or embarrassing failure of Hibs when it comes to matching up against lower league opposition this early in the season, but it doesn’t bode well if the Hibees are hoping to make a go of a third place challenge.

Securing a top half finish, which they failed to do last season, feels like a good goal and a decent platform for the green side of Edinburgh to aim for and then build on in the future.

How will the top and bottom six look?

Graham Alexander has had a season and a half at Motherwell to shape the team in his image but how will they get on this season? Graham Alexander has had a season and a half at Motherwell to shape the team in his image but how will they get on this season?
Graham Alexander has had a season and a half at Motherwell to shape the team in his image but how will they get on this season?

Dundee United were decent without being spectacular last season and that was enough to land them fourth place thanks to the aforementioned poor performances by the likes of Aberdeen and Hibs.

What is promising is that the Terrors have strengthened their squad and have managed to secure a permanent deal for Manchester United midfielder Dylan Levitt who impressed on loan last season.

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They were inconsistent at times though and had a forced change of management over the summer with Tam Courts replaced by Jack Ross but that could see them kick on just as much as it could cause damage.

If Aberdeen and Hibs do end up being reinvigorated this campaign then another fourth place finish may be beyond United but they should certainly be targeting it and feel like a good bet to definitely make the top six.

If any of the clubs already mentioned do slip up then they will surely have Motherwell on their heels ready to overtake.

The Steelmen also managed a strong finish of fifth last season but, again, more to do with other teams underperforming than their own impressive form.

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They have managed to keep the core of last season’s squad in place though and manager Graham Alexander is well bedded in at Fir Park now after his first full season in charge so they have a level of consistency to rely on that should serve them well.

Another top six finish will be the aim and it’s certainly achievable but will likely require a drastic improvement on last season’s form and a home Europa Conference League defeat to League of Ireland side Sligo Rovers is cause for concern.

Ross County were the other side who scraped into the top half last season but that will surely be beyond them this time around especially after losing top scorer Regan Charles-Cook.

The Staggies first priority will be avoiding a relegation battle and you have to back them to do that with Malky MacKay at the helm as, like him or hate him, he is a wiley operator and an talented tactician who has plenty of experience in getting the best out of players and exceeding expectations.

Who is in danger of relegation?

Is Callum Davidson’s time as St Johnstone manager coming to an end?  Is Callum Davidson’s time as St Johnstone manager coming to an end?
Is Callum Davidson’s time as St Johnstone manager coming to an end?
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In a league of 12 teams where the bottom side go down automatically and 11th face a play-off it doesn’t take a lot for a team to get sucked into trouble.

That is something that Livingston and their boss Davie Martindale will be acutely aware of.

The Lions finished last season 14 points clear of second bottom and topped the bottom half of the split but have had to deal with a bit of a turnover in their playing squad this summer.

However, they have a knack for punching above their weight and will almost certainly pull off more than a few surprise results to pick up the points that will likely keep them clear of the danger zone once again.

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Kilmarnock are back in the top flight and looking good under former Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes with Scottish football fans needing no explanation about his impressive track record as a manager.

They also have a squad full of proven Scottish Premiership talents like Ash Taylor, Kyle Lafferty and Jordan Jones and the combination of a strong squad and top quality manager should see them also be well clear of the relegation fight.

Killie feel like a side that will be better placed to set goals half way through the campaign once they have their footing back in the division, they could find themselves in a relegation scrap but could equally feel like they have a chance of kicking on and maybe even sneaking into the top six depending on how other sides perform.

We all loved the incredible story of St Johnstone and their remarkable domestic cup double in the 2020/21 season - an achievement thought near impossible for a side not called Rangers or Celtic.

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Unfortunately, the bubble has well and truly burst at McDiarmid Park and they became the latest Premiership side to benefit from the ridiculously unfair nature of the play-offs when they took on Inverness CT to rescue their place as a top flight team last season.

Callum Davidson had enough metaphorical cash in the bank to keep a hold of his position after his cup success the previous year but the club did not have the literal cash to replace the key players he lost and what he was left with was never going to achieve the same heights.

However, they have carried their poor form from last season into the Premier Sports Cup and patience is running out in Perth for the former Preston North End full-back so they need to start the season strong or it could end up being a long and arduous one.

The thing most likely to save them from being cut adrift at the bottom looks like being St Mirren, who are in a much weaker position to last season.

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The Buddies tend to be written off as relegation contenders more often than is perhaps fair when it comes to the Scottish top flight but the loss of manager Jim Goodwin is starting to look not just like Aberdeen’s gain but the death knell to their hopes of aiming any higher than just survival.

Stephen Robinson had relative success at Motherwell but the Irishman hasn’t been able to carry that with him to the Paisley club so far and they have gone backwards rather than forwards.

Not only that, but their squad seems considerably worse off particularly for the loss of Wolves’ loanee Connor Ronan who could yet return to the SPFL with one of their rivals.

The final verdict

With that in mind, her is our predicted Scottish Premiership table for the 2022/23 season:

  1. Celtic
  2. Rangers
  3. Aberdeen
  4. Hearts
  5. Dundee United
  6. Hibs
  7. Motherwell
  8. Kilmarnock
  9. Ross County
  10. Livingston
  11. St Johnstone
  12. St Mirren

What do you think? Let us know by tweeting us your predictions at @NationalWorld or @NationalWorldFooty.

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