Will the Scottish Premiership end the weekend with new leaders? Can Hearts finally be beaten in the league? What do Hibernian need to do to end their losing run?
These are just some of the burning questions as the division enters its second round of fixtures.
Here’s a preview of Saturday and Sunday’s games…
Summit beckons for Celtic
Ange Postecoglou’s incredulity at the nature and tone of the questions he was being asked when Celtic were six points off defending champions Rangers has been vindicated with a run of five straight wins in all competitions.
The Australian boss said Wednesday’s first-half display in the 3-1 win over Hibernian was Celtic’s best yet this season and Livingston are next up on the fixture list.
Victory and Celtic will go top before Rangers’ travel to face Motherwell on Sunday.
As predicted by Postecoglou, getting a settled team and players back from injury has boosted results and despite criticism of his defence, Celtic have the joint lowest goals against column in the division.
Can Hibs end losing run?
Aberdeen passed the mantle of ‘strugglers’ to Hibernian when they beat Jack Ross’ side last weekend.
And three straight defeats became four with Wednesday’s defensive collapse against Celtic.
Ross was buoyed by Hibs’ second-half display and on Saturday they travel to face Ross County.
County thrashed Dundee 5-0 for a first league win of the campaign and now have a result to back up Malky Mackay’s confidence in the team.
Hibs are six points off the top four and could drop into the bottom half of the table if results go against them this weekend.
Will Aberdeen resurgence continue?
The latest test of Aberdeen’s resurgence is unbeaten Hearts’ visit to Pittodrie on Saturday.
The Dons’ led by two goals away to Rangers on Wednesday and held on at 2-1 until late in the game.
And despite ultimately having to settle for a draw, the result combined with last week’s win over Hibs has eased the pressure on manager Stephen Glass considerably.
Cracking the nut of Hearts has already evaded both halves of the Old Firm, and St Johnstone were foiled by Josh Ginnelly’s midweek leveller in Perth.
If Aberdeen are to build momentum, picking up points at home will be crucial.
Rangers’ search for answers continues at Fir Park
Whether it’s with results or performances, Rangers are yet to hit the heights of last season’s league form and have seen their lead over Celtic cut from six points to two in recent weeks.
Defending seems to have become the Achilles heel for Steven Gerrard’s side with only three clean sheets from 11 league games so far and losing the first goal in games on five occasions.
Only Celtic have scored more goals in the division than Gerrard’s men but Sunday’s opponents Motherwell are one of the teams to have already profited from Rangers’ profligacy this season.
Leading 1-0 against Well at Ibrox last month, the hosts could not convert their superior possession and chances into a second goal and allowed Graham Alexander’s side to equalise with their only shot on target.
It’s the re-match at Fir Park on Halloween, the first SPFL fixture to be played in GMT this season after the clocks go back overnight.
