Sky Bet traders on the 2017/18 SPFL with verdicts on all four divisions of Scottish football

Defending champions Celtic get the new Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership season under way on Saturday lunchtime when they host Hearts.

We've got the verdict of Sky Bet traders Daniel Caterer and Ivor Davies on all four divisions. You can check out the firm's Scottish Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two odds by clicking on the links provided.

Celtic are massive favourites once again to win the Scottish Premiership title, but is there any way to find a spot of value in supporting Brendan Rodgers’ men this season?

Daniel Caterer: Celtic look unrivalled for the league this season and their 1/12 title odds reflect this. They are also a short price to win the Scottish Cup and Betfred (League) Cup - 5/4 in each market. Aberdeen will be looking for revenge after two cup final defeats and the improving Rangers side will also be aiming for some silverware. I think Celtic will show their dominance in the league and the value is in the 8/1 going off on scratch for this season’s handicap. After finishing last season 39 points ahead of Rangers and 30 ahead of Aberdeen, the Rangers +16 and Aberdeen +19 handicaps that are available look easily beatable.

Ivor Davies: Celtic cantered, undefeated, to a sixth successive league title last season - finishing 30 points clear of Aberdeen - and the best way of supporting them would be to back them at 8/1 off scratch on the season handicap. As ever, Celtic have been well supported to win the domestic treble at 5/1 and 16/1 for them to remain undefeated again in the league this season has also been popular.

Rangers and Aberdeen are battling it out for second-favouritism in the outright market. Who’s your pick to end the season higher up the table?

DC: With the squad improvements made by Rangers I can see them finishing in the top two. Picking up draws against five out of the six bottom-half teams, including a hat-trick against Ross County, will need to change and I think their new signings can sort that. Ryan Jack switching directly between the two clubs will be huge, as will the experience brought in the form of Bruno Alves and Graham Dorrans. If the other new signings from Portugal and Mexico adapt to the Scottish Premiership quickly I see Rangers having a successful season.

ID: Not far off the flip of a coin so I’d rather back Aberdeen at odds-against. I’m not at all convinced about Pedro Caixinha at Rangers and Derek McInnes turning down Sunderland to remain in charge (along with assistant manager Tony Docherty) at Pittodrie can only be seen as a positive.

Who do you reckon will be in trouble in the scrap to remain in the Premiership?

DC: Hamilton were lucky to avoid the drop after losing five in a row following the split of the league last season. A final-day victory and a 1-0 aggregate play-off win over Dundee United kept them up. Despite signing Xavier Tomas, their first signing in eight years with a transfer fee, I can’t see this being enough of an improvement and can see why they are 15/8 favourites for automatic relegation.

ID: Hamilton will again be fighting to remain in the top flight and they are the favourites at 15/8 to finish bottom. Partick surprised a few people last season by finishing in sixth. However, they have had a big turnaround of players during the summer including losing centre-back Liam Lindsay to Barnsley and they will struggle to repeat their good form of last season.

Give us a contender to watch out for from the Premiership top goalscorer odds…

DC: Liam Boyce’s move south to Burton Albion should mean the top goalscorer award will return to Celtic Park this year. With Moussa Dembele being out until the end of September, I would say 4/1 for Scott Sinclair is currently your best bet. There are high hopes for 20/1 shot Louis Moult to have another good season - he managed 15 last year and has started well with a couple of goals in the League Cup already. Another popular outsider has been Hibs’ new forward Simon Murray; he has been backed in from 66/1 to 40/1 to be a success as Jason Cummings’ replacement.

ID: I think the safe bet at 4/1 would probably be Scott Sinclair. There is still lots of uncertainty over Moussa Dembele’s future and Leigh Griffiths had a few injury setbacks last season. We went up too big at 80/1 about Kyle Lafferty to be top scorer and he’s now been cut into 33/1.

Are Dundee United worthy favourites in the Championship or is there a better bet elsewhere?

DC: Dundee United look strong and will hope new signing James Keatings will add goals and can secure his fourth promotion in five seasons - he's gone up previously with Hamilton, Hearts and Hibs. Also finishing last season strongly were Falkirk. They will be hoping to finish above United for a second successive season and look a good bet for the league at 7/2. After both failing to be promoted via last season’s play-offs I think it will be between the two to go one better and win the title. Newly-promoted Livingston will come into the league confident after winning their final nine League One fixtures, remaining unbeaten in this season’s League Cup and beating former Premier League side Sunderland in a pre-season friendly. They are available to win the Scottish Championship at 20/1.

ID: I think Dundee United are worthy favourites but it should be noted that Falkirk have been reasonably well backed with us over the summer. They actually finished three points clear of United last season and having opened up at 5/1 at the start of the summer, they are now into 7/2.

Raith are strong fancies to land the League One trophy. Can you see any outcome other than Rovers finishing on top?

DC: Ayr United look a good bet at 5/2 and should give Raith some good competition in the fight to win League One. Their early season has been very strong; a win against Premiership side and local rivals Kilmarnock was followed by three more victories in the League Cup. The only other team outside of the Premiership to achieve this feat of four from four in the cup is Falkirk. I think Ayr will start their league campaign well with nice opening fixtures against the division's biggest three outsiders, Albion, Forfar and Stranraer, and then continue to have a good season.

ID: Raith should bounce back to the Championship at the first time of asking. However, 6/5 looks a bit short to me. I’d sooner back Alloa at about 6/1 each way. They were clearly the best of the rest last season and if you are looking to take on the front two (Raith and Ayr who were both relegated) at short prices, they would be the obvious place to look.

In League Two, where’s the value in the battle to win the title?

DC: Stenhousemuir won three and drew once against Peterhead last season and will hope their luck against their new League Two rivals continues - they are 4/1 to win the league. Elsewhere in the league, Annan Athletic will aim to build on their impressive goalscoring form from the last two seasons. Finishing with the league’s most goals in 15/16 and scoring in every home game in 16/17, they could be a good bet at 14/1.

ID: Peterhead look a class above the rest in this division – as they have already demonstrated by beating Hearts 2-1 in the League Cup group stage. Anything odds-against looks like value as they will look to bounce straight back to League One.

Posted at 0710 BST on 03/08/17.

Coming next: National League preview, Thursday 1200 BST

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