Team news and stats for the opening round of the Scottish Premiership, as Celtic start their title defence live on Sky Sports.

Livingston vs Rangers – Saturday, 12pm, live on Sky Sports Football

Opta stats

• Both of the previous MD1 top-flight meetings between Livingston and Rangers saw the Gers run out 3-0 winners, in 2005-06 and last season. This is the first time Rangers have faced the same side on MD1 in back-to-back top-flight campaigns since meeting Falkirk in both 2008-09 and 2009-10.
• Rangers have won 11 of their last 12 league meetings with Livingston (D1) since a 1-0 defeat in September 2018.
• Livingston’s last win on MD1 of a top-flight season came back in 2004-05, losing four of five such matches since (D1).
• Rangers are unbeaten on MD1 in their last 19 top-flight seasons (W14 D5) since a 1-2 loss to Hearts in 1998-99.
• Only against St. Johnstone (nine) does Rangers’ James Tavernier have more Scottish Premiership assists than he does against Livingston (six). The right-back has assisted four of Rangers’ last seven league goals against Livingston.

How to watch: Watch Livingston vs Rangers live on Sky Sports Football from 11am; Kick-off 12pm. Follow the action with our dedicated live match blog, including in-game clips, with free match highlights published on the Sky Sports website, app and YouTube channel later that evening.

Saturday 30th July 11:00am


Kick off 12:00pm

Hearts vs Ross County – Saturday, 3pm

Opta stats

• Hearts have lost just one of their last 19 Scottish Premiership matches against Ross County (W7 D11), a 0-1 home reverse in March 2017 under Ian Cathro.
• Ten of the last 13 Scottish Premiership games between Hearts and Ross County have been drawn (two Hearts wins, one Ross County win), including seven of the last eight.
• Hearts beat Celtic 2-1 on MD1 of last season; they last won on the opening day of back-to-back top-flight campaigns in a run of four seasons from 2003-04 to 2006-07.
• Ross County have won three of their last four MD1 matches in the Scottish Premiership (D1), keeping a clean sheet in each of their last three.
• Both Hearts and Ross County ended the 2021-22 season with defeats in each of their last three league games, the longest ongoing losing runs of any current Scottish Premiership clubs.

How to follow: Free match highlights will be published on the Sky Sports website, app and YouTube channel later that evening.

Kilmarnock vs Dundee Utd – Saturday, 3pm

Opta stats

• Kilmarnock and Dundee United last met on MD1 of a top-flight campaign in 2011-12, a 1-1 draw in which Danny Swanson’s equaliser for the Tangerines cancelled out Rory McKeown’s opener for Killie.
• Dundee United have only won one of their last seven Scottish Premiership away games at Kilmarnock (D2 L4), a 4-2 win in May 2016 under Gordon Young.
• Since the start of the 2015-16 season, only one of the nine newly promoted clubs in the Scottish Premiership has lost their first match of the campaign (W5 D3), with Livingston suffering a 1-3 defeat at Celtic in 2018-19.
• Dundee United are winless in their last three opening day games to a Scottish Premiership season (D1 L2), last winning in 2014-15 (3-0 v Aberdeen).
• Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes has only lost twice in 11 MD1 matches as a manager in the Scottish top-flight (W4 D5), although one of those two defeats was his last such match with Aberdeen in 2020-21 (0-1 v Rangers)

How to follow: Free match highlights will be published on the Sky Sports website, app and YouTube channel later that evening.

St Johnstone vs Hibernian – Saturday, 3pm

Opta stats

• St. Johnstone have only won two of their last 11 league meetings with Hibernian (D3 L6), and are winless in their last four (D1 L3) since a 1-0 victory in May 2021.
• Hibernian have won four of their last five Scottish Premiership away games at St. Johnstone (L1), more than they had in their previous 13 top-flight visits to the Saints beforehand (W3 D5 L5).
• St. Johnstone are winless on their opening game of each of the last four league seasons (D2 L2), although this home match ends a run of five consecutive MD1 matches away from home for the Saints.
• Hibernian have won on the opening day of each of their five Scottish Premiership seasons since their promotion in 2017.
• St. Johnstone’s Jamie Murphy has scored more league goals in Scotland’s top-flight against former club Hibernian than he has versus any other opponent, scoring eight goals in 18 such appearances against Hibs. Murphy only scored three goals in 37 Scottish Premiership appearances as a Hibs player.

How to follow: Free match highlights will be published on the Sky Sports website, app and YouTube channel later that evening.

St Mirren vs Motherwell – Sunday, 3pm

Opta stats

• St. Mirren’s last Scottish Premiership win at home to Motherwell came back in May 2015 under Gary Teale, with the Buddies winless in all six of their home league games against the Steelmen since their promotion in 2018 (D3 L3).
• Motherwell are unbeaten in their last six Scottish Premiership meetings with St. Mirren (W2 D4) since a 1-0 defeat in December 2020.
• St. Mirren have won both of their last two MD1 matches when played at home in the Scottish top-flight, wins over Dundee in 2018-19 and Livingston in 2020-21.
• Motherwell have lost on the opening day in four of their last five league seasons (D1), last winning on MD1 in 2016-17 at Kilmarnock (2-1).
• This will be St. Mirren boss Steve Robinson’s 150th Scottish Premiership match as a manager, with 137 of those coming in charge of Motherwell (W50 D26 L61). Robinson lost his first and only previous league match against the Steelmen in charge of St. Mirren 4-2 in April of last season.

How to follow: Free match highlights will be published on the Sky Sports website, app and YouTube channel later that evening.

Celtic vs Aberdeen – Sunday, 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports Football

Opta stats

• Celtic are unbeaten in their last 17 meetings with Aberdeen in all competitions (W14 D3) since a 0-1 league defeat on the final day of the 2017-18 season.
• Aberdeen have only won one of their six previous MD1 league matches against Celtic (D1 L4), with that victory coming in 1935 (3-1).
• Celtic lost 1-2 to Hearts on their opening match of last season’s Scottish Premiership; they haven’t lost back-to-back games on MD1 of a league season since doing so in the 1946-47 and 1947-48 campaigns under Jimmy McGrory.
• Aberdeen will face the reigning Scottish champions on MD1 of a league season for the first time since 2012-13, also against Celtic, when they lost 1-0 after a winner from Kris Commons.
• When starting a league campaign at home on MD1, Celtic have only lost two of 62 previous matches (W53 D7), both defeats to Morton (now Greenock Morton) in 1946-47 and 1950-51.

How to watch: Watch Celtic vs Aberdeen live on Sky Sports Football from 3.30pm; Kick-off 4.30pm. Follow the action with our dedicated live match blog, including in-game clips, with free match highlights published on the Sky Sports website, app and YouTube channel later that evening.

Sunday 31st July 4:00pm


Kick off 4:30pm