CELTIC begin their title defence with a potentially tricky home game against last season's overachievers Kilmarnock.
The Hoops are warm favourites to repeat last season's Premiership romp despite a summer where their fans have bitterly complained about their lack of signings.
With only veteran keeper Kasper Schmeichel and last season's loan star Bernardo in the building at the time of writing – albeit two impressive captures – despite a bulging bank balance, then it's led to plenty of complaints about Celtic's lack of ambition.
But let's be honest, their squad looks comfortably miles better than anyone else in Scottish football and looks to have more strength than their Old Firm rivals Rangers, who have plenty of issues of their own.
And when this Celtic team can beat both Manchester City and Chelsea easily in their pre-season tour of the USA, they should be brimming with confidence.
Killie finished an impressive fourth last season and while the vast majority of their good work was done on their infamous artificial surface, they deserved plenty of credit.
They were in midweek action in the Europa League where they lost to Cercle Bruges in the Europa League.
Derek McInnes has brought in keeper Robby McCrorie and striker Bruce Anderson and turned some loan moves into permanent ones.
How the bookies view it: Killie huge outsiders
As always with a Celtic home game against non-Old Fim opposition, Celtic are huge favourites at 1/6 with the likes of Betfred and bet365.
Killie can be backed at a huge 17/1 with Paddy Power to spoil the party and the draw is 7/1 with William Hill.
Recent head to heads: Celtic's problem opposition.
Apart from a 5-0 thrashing at the end of the season where Celtic clinched the title, Kilmarnock have proved troublesome opponents for the Hoops.
Last season Killie beat Cetic at home in the league and League Cup as well as claiming a point from Parkhead. although Killie haven't won in the east end of Glasgow for 12 years.
Players to watch: Matt a class act
Matt O'Riley has been a target for plenty of big European clubs this summer with Atalanta and Atletico madri reading the chase. He's continued his excellent goalscoring form in pre-season though and is 6/4 with bet365 to net on Sunday.
Killie captain Kyle Vassell is a key man for the Ayrshire side and netted a respectable 13 league goals last season. He will be a threat here and is 6/1 to net anytime with UniBet.
Probable line-ups:
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnson, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, McGregor, Hatate, O'Riley, Maeda, Kyogo, Palma.
Kilmarnock: McCrorie, Mayo, Wright, Findlay, Deas, Watson, Donnelly, Lyons, Kennedy, Vassell, Armstrong.
Anything else catch the eye?
Opening games can prove troublesome at the best of times and Killie are always spirited opposition under Derek McInnes.
However, this Celtic team are flying and winning games with plenty of goals.
How much Killie's European exertions have taken out of them could be the key factor here. But as has been proved plenty of times with Scottish teams with a thin squad, the answer is a lot.
Celtic scored four against Chelsea, Manchester City and DC United so that Killie defence should be worried. Back a home win and over 3.5 goals at a solid 21/20 with bet365.
As always, it can be hard to find value when Celtic are at home, but they could well start here with a bang in front of an expectant crowd.
Celtic look a good shout at 31/20 to score two goals or more with Paddy Power in the first half which could provide some value.
This Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Kilmarnock will be played on Aug 4, 2024 and kick off at 16:30. Check below for our tipsters best Celtic vs Kilmarnock prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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