{"id":1748,"date":"2026-05-16T11:19:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T11:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/?p=1748"},"modified":"2026-05-16T11:19:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T11:19:04","slug":"what-do-hearts-and-celtic-need-to-win-the-league-scottish-premiership-title-permutations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/?p=1748","title":{"rendered":"What do Hearts and Celtic need to win the league? Scottish Premiership title permutations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"main\">\n<div class=\"hydrate-root sc-1ihz57b-0\" data-component=\"Newsletter\" data-loading=\"lazy\" data-theme-name=\"independent\">\n<div data-theme-wrapper=\"independent\" style=\"display:contents\">\n<aside class=\"sc-y4bm30-0 jwWhkK newsletter-component sc-1ge0fwe-0\" data-newsletter-key=\"receiveInsideSportNews\">\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-2 kcLSBk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/static-assets\/images\/newsletters\/InsideSport1_1.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Inside Sport\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE\"\/><\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-1 inRDZn\">\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-3\">\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-4 hfveGa\">\n<p><h3 class=\"sc-y4bm30-5 sc-y4bm30-6 fvoxRM cLEJmn\">Inside Sport newsletter: Get an expert guide to the biggest moments shaping the world of sport<\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"sc-y4bm30-5 sc-y4bm30-8 fvoxRM iTZFOX\">Get our free Inside Sport newsletter<\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"sc-y4bm30-5 sc-y4bm30-7 fvoxRM iGYpOF\">Get our free Inside Sport newsletter<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"sc-eaj12q-0 hKcUSR sc-culv3z-0 eifaJK sc-1ix0cah-0 PYnPb sc-y4bm30-10 fUEDPX\"><use href=\"#600f53465147d717\"\/><\/svg><\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-2 kcLSBk sc-y4bm30-9 iQYNfz\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/static-assets\/images\/newsletters\/InsideSport1_1.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Inside Sport\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/heart-of-midlothian\">Hearts<\/a> are on the brink of winning a first league title since 1960 and breaking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/celtic-fc\">Celtic<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/rangers-fc\">Rangers<\/a>\u2019 duopoly of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/scottish-premiership\">Scottish Premiership<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Under Derek McInnes, Hearts have led the way for most of the season and head into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/sport\/football\/hearts-rangers-preview-prediction-scottish-premiership-b2968917.html\">Scottish football\u2019s biggest weekend since 1985<\/a> with the title in their hands. However, after a dramatic finish on Wednesday, the momentum is with Celtic. <\/p>\n<p>Hearts<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/sport\/football\/hearts-celtic-scottish-premiership-penalty-result-title-b2976078.html\" title=\"In an increasingly controversial title race, Hearts now know what they\u2019re up against\"> comfortably defeated Falkirk 3-0 on Wednesday<\/a>, but Celtic needed a last-minute Kelechi Iheanacho penalty &#8211; given after a VAR review &#8211; to keep their hopes realistically alive.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that the two contenders face each other on the final day makes it all the more dramatic. It will be a winner-takes-all occasion at Celtic Park. <\/p>\n<p><h2><strong>Scottish Premiership standings and fixtures <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>1) Hearts | Played: 37, Points: 80, GD+ 35 <\/p>\n<p>2) Celtic | Played: 37, Points: 79, GD+ 30 <\/p>\n<p><strong>Remaining fixture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Saturday 16 May<\/strong> &#8211; Celtic vs Hearts (12:30pm BST) <\/p>\n<p><h2><strong>How can Hearts win the league on Saturday? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>After a thrilling title race full of twists and turns, it all comes down to Saturday lunchtime. <\/p>\n<p>If Hearts win, they win the title. If Hearts draw, they win the title. But if they lose, it will now be Celtic\u2019s championship. <\/p>\n<p><h2><strong>What do Celtic need on the final day? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s simple for Celtic: they must beat Hearts on Saturday. <\/p>\n<p>Their last-minute winner on Wednesday means they no longer have to win by at least three goals. A win, no matter the score, will do the job. <\/p>\n<p><h2><strong>What happens if they finish level on points? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>The tiebreakers are goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head points. <\/p>\n<p>But the teams now cannot finish level on points. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside Sport newsletter: Get an expert guide to the biggest moments shaping the world of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134.jpg",1200,800,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-1115x715.jpg",1115,715,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-800x500.jpg",800,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-474589134-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/betreview.net\/?cat=6\" rel=\"category\">Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}