The last three rounds of games before the division split will significantly impact a number of issues in Scotland’s premier league.
We examine the situation in Scotland’s top division ahead of the international break, with three rounds of games remaining until the Premiership splits in two:
Title race
With their 3-1 victory against St Johnstone over the weekend, Celtic enters the international break as the clear favourites. Rangers, whose Sunday match against Dundee was controversially cancelled owing to a flooded pitch, behind them by a point. The Ibrox boss Philippe Clement was furious at the decision and undoubtedly intended to head into the international break with a two-point lead they had regained at the summit.After losing to Benfica on Thursday, Rangers had worked hard to prepare for the match at Dens Park. Now, they may need to find a new date for the Dundee match before the break.
The title race will be significantly impacted by the Old Firm match, but there will still be one following the split, and both teams will have difficult games to go through before the Ibrox match. Rangers’ challenges at Dundee, a resurgent Hibs, and away at Ross County appear more difficult than Celtic’s on paper, but Clement’s team has demonstrated the capacity to grind out victories during hard times.
Race for third
Is it truly a race, in our opinion? With eight games left, Hearts, in third place, lead Kilmarnock by 11 points. The Jambos lost out on becoming the best of the rest last season after giving up a sizable lead to Aberdeen, and if it were to happen again, it would be an even greater collapse.When league play resumes on March 30, Hearts will host Killie, who are now in fourth place, at Tynecastle. Derek McInnes’ squad will probably need to win to put any kind of pressure on a Hearts team that has been virtually flawless this season. Hearts travel to St. Mirren after that before returning home to Livingston. Although Kilmarnock’s decisive 5-2 victory at St. Mirren undoubtedly aided their cause, they are mathematically not yet in the top six. The next two games of the pre-split campaign are at home against Ross County and away at St Johnstone for McInnes’ team, who are eight points ahead of seventh-place Dundee, who have a game in hand.
Who among the top six will place?
This is the time of year when a few teams fight to finish on the right side of the division. Killie, Celtic, Rangers, and Hearts all appear to be in the top six, as was already mentioned, but who else is there? Despite their embarrassing loss at Rugby Park last weekend, where they gave up five goals in a wild 19 minutes, St Mirren is currently in fifth place with 42 points, and it looks like they will make it. Their next three tests are away to Motherwell, home to Hearts, and away to Celtic. Depending on how they perform, a bad showing in those three games might put them at the mercy of Hibs and Dundee.
A strong run of play has seen Hibs pass inactive Dundee and move up to sixth place ahead of the international break. They have three pre-split games left, which are as follows: Rangers away, St Johnstone home, and Motherwell away. They currently have 38 points. In addition to the game in hand against Rangers, the Dees have games against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, Motherwell at home, and Aberdeen at Pittodrie. They are now two points behind the leaders, Aberdeen.
The Steelmen, meantime, have a remote chance of finishing in the top six. To do so, they would need to triumph in each of their next three games—at home against St. Mirren, away against Dundee, and at home against Hibs—and pray that the teams above them lose their way.
Avoiding the dreaded play-off
Ross County’s comeback has intensified the competition to stay out of the relegation play-offs and avoid 11th place. The Staggies defeated Hearts 2-1 at home to build on their midweek draw with Hibs. With 27 points, they are currently only one point behind St Johnstone in tenth place. After defeating Motherwell 1-0, Aberdeen, who had been losing badly, climbed up to ninth position and three points ahead of County, with Fir Park in eighth place on 32 points. These four clubs seem to be the front-runners to finish in the bottom two spots.
The March 30 meeting between managerless Aberdeen and County might determine the future of both teams. The same day, Motherwell plays St. Mirren, while Saints hosts Dundee. The final two games for County are against Rangers at home and Kilmarnock away. In game-week 33, the Dons play at Livingston before hosting Dundee, while St Johnstone travels to Hibs and then hosts Killie. Although a winning run of outcomes for any of the four would be greatly appreciated, there will probably be a fight royal to keep everyone’s heads above water following the split.
Relegation
They looked like a team headed for relegation, even with the illness that plagued Livingston last week. On Saturday, they lost 3-0 to Hibs. David Martindale’s Lions play again on Easter Sunday against Celtic, then host Aberdeen and finally go to Hearts before the break, ten points behind in last place. They have a limited amount of time to maintain their Premiership status.
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