Scottish Premiership: Can Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen respond to European defeats? Will Hearts stay top after derby vs Hibs?
Dundee United host Livingston, St Mirren are at Kilmarnock, Hearts face Hibs at Tynecastle Park, Aberdeen take on Dundee; Celtic host Motherwell; Rangers are away to Falkirk, live on Sky Sports
Friday 3 October 2025 13:20, UK
Will it be a welcome return to league action for the Old Firm and Aberdeen after European disappointment? And will top of the table Hearts or city rivals Hibs remain unbeaten after their derby clash?
Would another Premiership win ease some pressure at Rangers?
"It's a mentality problem" has been Russell Martin's mantra on more than one occasion this season.
That is what he pointed to after their 1-1 draw at Motherwell on the opening weekend of the Premiership season, and it was again his theory after their 2-1 Europa League defeat to Sturm Graz on Thursday night.
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Rangers have now gone 22 away matches in all competitions without a clean sheet, equalling a club record that has stood since January 1897.
That suggests there is more than mentality for the under-fire head coach to be worrying about.
Rangers secured their first league win at Livingston last weekend, but it did not silence calls for Martin to go.
Is it now win or bust for him at Falkirk on Sunday, live on Sky Sports?
Rangers have lost both of their last two league visits to the Falkirk Stadium, each in the Scottish Championship in 2015-16.
In the top-flight, though, the Gers have lost just one of their last 45 games against the Bairns home and away, winning their last 10 in a row since a 1-0 defeat in December 2006.
What is the attacking answer for Celtic?
"Whatever it is, I need to find the solution to it because there have been too many games now where we haven't scored."
Brendan Rodgers accepts Celtic have a problem, but the fans want to know how he plans to fix it before it becomes a crisis.
The Hoops have scored 17 goals in all competitions - at this stage last season they had 32.
Failure to score against Hibernian last weekend knocked them off the top of the Premiership. No goals against Sporting Braga means their hopes of progressing to the knockout phase of the Europa League are already in the balance after just two games.
Kelechi Iheanacho did have the ball in the net in both those games, only to have them ruled out by VAR.
It was a wild decision in Thursday's game against Braga, but there are clear gaps in the squad and Daizen Maeda continues to look lost after he missed a move away from Celtic.
Next up is a home game against Motherwell on Sunday, a side they are unbeaten against in their last 34 meetings.
The fans have postponed their silent protests against the board with a meeting planned on Monday, if they do not manage a goal and a win against Motherwell it is all but certain there will be more boos at full time.
Signs of improvement for Aberdeen?
Aberdeen started strongly against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Conference League, with Jesper Karlsson firing them ahead from the penalty spot inside the opening 10 minutes.
In the end their winless run extended to eight games, but they scored twice in a performance that should give the Dons fans some hope that things might be about to change.
After sticking to a 4-2-3-1 system since taking charge - except for a 5-3-2 in the Scottish Cup final against Celtic - Jimmy Thelin has now moved to a hybrid defence with three central defenders and two wingbacks with some encouraging results.
They looked much improved at Fir Park last weekend, despite their eventual defeat, and they continued to fight against Shakhtar after falling 3-1 behind and with nothing to lose.
Aberdeen are still goalless in the Premiership with Dundee next up on Sunday.
A victory would not lift them off the foot of the table, but it could see them trailing by just one point heading into the international break.
The Dark Blues are winless in their last 16 visits to Pittodrie and have yet to win an away game in the league this season.
Will Hearts or Hibs remain unbeaten after Edinburgh derby?
The scene is set for a cracker at Tynecastle Park with both Hearts and Hibernian unbeaten in the Premiership after six games.
Derek McInnes has been talking down any title talk despite sitting two points clear at the top, insisting they are a "million miles" from anyone believing they can end the Old Firm dominance.
Hibs have not won in the league since an opening day success against Dundee, but have drawn five on the bounce including an impressive stalemate against the Hoops last time out.
McInnes has never lost as a manager at home to the Hibees in the Scottish top-flight in 15 previous fixtures, drawing his last four while in charge at Kilmarnock.
David Gray enjoyed a derby clash last season, winning two and drawing one as they clinched their first win in Gorgie since 2019.
