The Scottish Premiership begins on August 3, once again catching many of us out.
Scotland’s top domestic league starts fully two weeks before its English counterpart and that means punters, as well as teams, must jump into action.
The quality may not be huge these days but like any league, the Premiership offers us betting opportunities on a league we get great coverage of every single week.
The Old Firm Battle
Celtic go into the season as three-time defending champs, Rangers even now still feeling the effects of their 2012 demotion and subsequent lack of transfer funds.
That remains a key point to bear in mind betting-wise. The Rangers squad simply isn’t worth what the Celtic squad is, and they can’t click their fingers and buy big.
Had a similar situation occurred south of the border Rangers would not have what’s needed to get back to Europe’s top table in all likelihood, meaning some easier fixtures. In the Ibrox club’s case however they may well be playing Champions League football and that will stretch their squad.
In a private battle Celtic are the correct favourites, but Rangers have not been a million miles away from their rivals in recent seasons with plenty coming down to the four Old Firm league games across the season. If Rangers get those right, they remain a danger to Celtic for the title. Nobody else will get close.
Handicap the Way to Go
At the time of writing, Celtic are around 4/11 for the title. Given their situation, Rangers aren’t exactly great value either at 2/1 and we cannot back 80/1 Hearts in the outright market.
The handicap market seems quite interesting, however.
In this market, it would be tempting to back one of the teams outside of the top three we think will outdo their overall odds. What chance of a big season from Hibernian or Aberdeen?
We’d prefer more consistency however and it seems Celtic, Rangers and Hearts are what we should focus on, even in the handicap market.
With Celtic off scratch, Rangers are +6. Hearts are +31 and all three are set at odds of 9/1. The others are too of course, but most are too unreliable.
Hearts at 2/1 to win the league without Rangers and Celtic is probably a fair shout. They are clear of Aberdeen for us. 2/1 isn’t worth waiting a season for, however.
9/1 Rangers the Top Bet
Ultimately, the best bet is to take 9/1 about Rangers at +6 on the handicap.
Rangers finished 7 points behind Celtic two seasons ago and 38 ahead of Hearts. Last year, that gap was 8 behind Celtic and 17 ahead of Hearts.
We’re not quite ready to back them for the title outright yet but covering that handicap against their two main rivals looks much better than a 9/1 shot to us. They will improve and close the gap on Celtic over the next few seasons, maybe even now, so this is the smart move.