Celtic thrash Dundee as they return to winning ways; Steven Gerrard's Rangers lose for the first time in 41 league games; Hibernian top the table from Aberdeen and Hearts; but who made the Scottish Premiership Team of the Week?
Monday 9 August 2021 12:26, UK
We're only two games into 2021/22 and Rangers have already lost more matches this season than they did last as Steven Gerrard oversaw a surprise 1-0 defeat at Dundee United.
Crossing the Glasgow divide, and Ange Postecoglou couldn't have wished for a better first home league performance from Celtic as they romped to a 6-0 victory over Dundee.
As one might expect, it's the Parkhead club who dominate the WhoScored.com team of the week as five representatives feature in the XI.
Dundee United's match-winner against Rangers, Jamie Robson, also makes the cut, as do players from Hibs, Motherwell and Hearts, with the top five performers from the team as follows...
After a so-so league debut, youngster Liel Abada gave supporters a glimpse of his talent as Celtic romped to victory on Sunday. The summer arrival provided the assist for Kyogo Furuhashi's opener - more on him later - after just 20 minutes, that coming from one of four key passes at Celtic Park. Abada also took it upon himself to test Adam Legzdins in the Dundee net as he managed six shots in all in an exciting outing.
Having made just one league appearance for Celtic last season, Anthony Ralston has made an immediate impact under Ange Postecoglou, scoring his second league goal of the campaign against Dundee. The right-back got forward well, completing two dribbles and making two key passes, and he defended solidly, too, as he made a commendable three tackles in a solid showing from the 22-year-old.
As far as full league debuts go, Kyogo Furuhashi couldn't have wished for much more. The Japanese striker was a late sub against Hearts a week ago, yet proved why he warrants a regular starting spot with a hat-trick against Dundee. Furuhashi hit the back of the net with three of seven shots on home turf and in addition made one tackle and completed one dribble to claim the match ball in front of 24,500 Celtic fans.
The only non-Celtic player to make the top five, Liam Boyce claimed the WhoScored.com man of the match award in Hearts' 2-1 win at St. Mirren as the Tynecastle side made it two wins from two upon their return to the Scottish Premiership. Boyce had a direct hand in both goals, following up his assist for Andrew Halliday's opener with what proved to be the winning goal with 15 minutes to go at the SMISA Stadium. Off the ball, the Hearts hitman impressed as he won 12 aerial duels and made four tackles to partner Furuhashi on the frontline.
Since WhoScored.com started collecting Scottish Premiership data from last season, there have been just four perfect 10s awarded, with Ryan Christie's performance on Sunday enough to yield that rating. The Scot was a late sub against Hearts last week, but came into the starting XI for the welcome of Dundee and didn't disappoint, registering a hat-trick of assists. Those came from a whopping eight key passes, that the second-best return in a Scottish Premiership match since the start of 2020/21 as Christie turned out a superb display for the Bhoys.
