Scottish Premiership: What did we learn from the opening weekend of the 2026/27 season? | Football News

Four days, six matches, 18 goals, and one opening weekend full of unmissable drama.

The Scottish Premiership is back and here’s what we learned about each team.

Aberdeen, as manager Stephen Robinson said, would not have won that game last season. Though lacking in quality and guile throughout the match, the Dons found a way to beat last year’s title challengers Hearts in dramatic fashion – a trademark characteristic of a Robinson team. Results like that should repel any accusations of “softness” which have been levelled at the Dons in recent years.

Celtic must find a suitable shape to accommodate new signings Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh. Despite beating Dundee 1-0, the champions were far from their fluid best with Duran ineffective off the right and Hogh wasteful through the middle. For a combined purchase total of £17m, the club’s only two summer signings must play in their best positions. That’s not possible in a 4-3-3, so should Martin O’Neill – as he has teased – switch to a 4-4-2, 3-5-2 or diamond?

Dundee fans should not be worried, not yet. They were competitive at Celtic Park for large spells and look in much better shape than they did at this point 12 months ago when they were the bookies’ favourites for relegation. Head coach Steven Pressley has admitted himself that his squad are four players light so the aim must be to add quality loan players in the forward areas to replicate the success of Cameron Congreve, Yan Dhanda and Tony Yogane from last term.

Dundee United’s style of play has completely changed. Manager Jim Goodwin promised supporters that they would see his team “play a bit more” this year and that’s exactly what the Terrors did in their opening 1-1 draw with Rangers. You can now expect to see short passing, playing out from the back and choreographed midfield rotations at Tannadice – with summer acquisition Dylan Tait from Falkirk at the heart of it.

Falkirk are showing all the symptoms of second season syndrome. After guiding the double promotion-winning Bairns to a top-six finish on their return to the Premiership, John McGlynn faces a more difficult proposition this year. To add to the woes of their group-stage exit from the League Cup, Falkirk looked feeble in their opening match defeat to St Mirren, and will find it tough to replace top performers like Barney Stewart, Calvin Miller, Filip Lissah and Tait.

Hearts need time to heal. The Wouter Vrancken era has started with three consecutive losses, but there have been sporadic spells of encouraging signs. They completely controlled the game at Pittodrie and probably should have extended their lead before the late capitulation. The biggest worry will be that last season’s masters of single-goal victories were able to throw away a seemingly unthreatened lead.

Hibernian are still as mystifyingly inconsistent as they have been throughout David Gray’s tenure. Thursday night’s Conference League comeback should have been the shot in the arm this team needed to put on a show for their fans on opening weekend, but once again, the optimism has been drained from Easter Road. Sunday’s loss to Motherwell only heightens the pressure on the team to deliver against Shkendija on Thursday and Rangers at the weekend.

Kilmarnock need defensive reinforcements. They shipped four goals to newly-promoted St Johnstone and all four concessions were easily avoidable as the Saints profited from two set-pieces and two counter-attacks. Having lost Lewis Mayo and Brad Lyons to Aberdeen as well as Dom Thompson to Beveren, Killie’s weak back four were exposed in the absence of vice-captain Robbie Deas.

Motherwell have kept the essence of Jens Berthel Askou’s team despite personnel changes. Without Elijah Just, Elliot Watt, Callum Slattery, Calum Ward or Stephen Welsh, Alfred Johnasson’s side were still able to deliver three points by playing exciting football with no recognised striker. In fact, they also did it without injured duo Stephen O’Donnell and Paul McGinn, while last season’s top scorer Tawanda Maswanhise started on the bench.

Rangers are in desperate need of wingers. Derek McInnes’s side sorely lacked creativity in the final third as they had to come from behind to earn a 1-1 draw in their league opener at Dundee United. Findlay Curtis, 19, and the enigmatic Djeidi Gassama are Rangers’ only two natural wide options, and the new Ibrox boss has admitted he needs “difference makers” that can serve strikers Lawrence Shankland, Youssef Chermiti, Ryan Naderi and Bojan Miovski.

St Johnstone proved their doubters wrong. Tipped to finish bottom by Sky Sports’ pundits Kris Boyd and Chris Sutton, Simo Valakari’s side put on a show on flag day to defeat Kilmarnock 4-3. The Saints’ boss had vowed to be “harder to beat” upon returning to the top-flight, but Sunday’s goal fest shows his free-scoring Championship-winning side may not look too dissimilar from last season.

St Mirren did exactly the same as above. Boyd and Sutton’s picks to finish in the relegation play-off spot find themselves at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after gameweek one. Having lost 13 first-team players in the summer – including captain Mark O’Hara and top scorer Mikael Mandron – it won’t be easy for Craig McLeish in his first role in management but he can take plenty of encouragement from Saturday’s 2-0 away win over Falkirk.