Scottish Premiership preview: Rogic, Arzani and Celtic shoot for cloud nine

Will it be nine Scottish Premiership titles in a row for Celtic this season?

Australians Tom Rogic and Daniel Arzani are back on board and ready to help further cement the Glasgow giants as the best team in Scotland.

Here’s everything you need to know about the league north of the border before the new season kicks off on Sunday morning (12:00am AEST).

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Title contenders

Celtic have won the last eight titles in a row, and are odds-on favourites to reign supreme again in 2019/20.

Old Firm rivals Rangers, managed by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, battled valiantly to a second placed finish last season, nine points behind the leaders, but the destination of the championship always seemed likely to remain in Parkhead.

Rogic
Celtic are after nine titles in a row this season

The men from Ibrox will be hellbent on preventing Celtic from etching their name on the trophy yet again this season, and are the likeliest candidates to stop that from happening.

Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian would all need to muster a barnstorming campaign and rely on the two Glasgow powerhouses faltering in order to mount a shock bid for the title.

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Star players

If it wasn’t for the temperament that saw Alfredo Morelos sent off four times in 2018/19, the Rangers striker – who had 18 goals to his name last season - would likely have been out of sight in the Golden Boot charts.

Celtic's 15-goal forward Odsonne Edouard was one of the chasing pack aiming to reign in the Colombian and the Frenchman is ever the man for the occasion for Neil Lennon’s side.

On his day, Celtic winger James Forrest is unplayable, while teammate Callum McGregor runs the middle third better than any other player in the competition.

Morales
Despite four red cards, Alfredo Morelos finished top scorer in Scotland last season

The Aussies

He’s known as the Wizard of Oz around Celtic parts, and Tom Rogic will be aiming to weave more magic as the club’s playmaker-in-chief this season.

The Caltex Socceroo from Canberra could also have an Australian partner in crime to take under his wing in the form of Daniel Arzani, who is back fit again after being sidelined for almost the entire 2018/19 season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The young winger will be eager to demonstrate why he caught the attention of Premier League champions Manchester City in 2018.

And all eyes will be on Martin Boyle when the exciting attacker returns to full fitness. Boyle, of Hibernian, could be sidelined until the New Year with a knee injury sustained in a Betfred Cup win over Elgin City last week but is determined to come back even stronger.

Arzani
Arzani will be working hard to get his name into Neil Lennon's first team plans

Newcomers

Ross County are back in the big time after their promotion from the second tier, while Dundee have gone the other way.

Opening fixtures

Celtic take on St. Johnstone at 12am on Sunday 4 August (AEST), while Boyle’s Hibernian host St. Mirren.

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This article was originally published on the Socceroos website.
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