2017–18 Scottish Premiership
The 2017–18 Scottish Premiership was the fifth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. The season began on 5 August 2017. Celtic were the defending champions.
Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Ross County and St Johnstone.
The season's average attendance was 15,932, the highest level since 2006–07.
On 29 April 2018, Celtic won their seventh consecutive title and 49th overall after a 5-0 win at home to Rangers.
Teams
The following teams have changed division since the 2016–17 season.To Premiership
Promoted from Scottish Championship- Hibernian
From Premiership
- Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Stadia and locations
Personnel and kits
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Aberdeen |  | | Adidas | Saltire Energy |
| Celtic |  | | New Balance | Dafabet |
| Dundee | |  | Puma | McEwan Fraser Legal |
| Hamilton Academical | | | Adidas | SuperSeal, NetBet |
| Heart of Midlothian | | | Umbro | Save the Children |
| Hibernian | Neil Lennon | David Gray | Macron | Marathonbet |
| Kilmarnock | | | Nike | QTS |
| Motherwell | | | Macron | McEwan Fraser Legal |
| Partick Thistle | |  | Joma | Just Employment Law |
| Rangers | | | Puma | 32Red |
| Ross County | Steven Ferguson and |  | Macron | Stanley CRC Evans Offshore |
| St Johnstone | | | Joma | Alan Storrar Cars |
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Dundee | | End of interim | 20 May 2017 | Pre-season | | 1 June 2017 |
| Kilmarnock | | End of interim | 20 May 2017 | Pre-season | | 5 June 2017 |
| Heart of Midlothian | | Sacked | 1 August 2017 | Pre-season | | 28 August 2017 |
| Ross County | | Sacked | 25 September 2017 | 10th | | 28 September 2017 |
| Kilmarnock | | Resigned | 1 October 2017 | 12th | | 14 October 2017 |
| Rangers |  | Sacked | 26 October 2017 | 4th | | 26 October 2017 |
| Rangers | | End of interim | 22 December 2017 | 3rd | | 22 December 2017 |
| Ross County | | Resigned | 1 March 2018 | 12th | and | 2 March 2018 |
| Rangers | | Sacked | 1 May 2018 | 3rd | | 1 May 2018 |
Format
Basic
In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams will play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.Prize money
In April 2018, the SPFL confirmed the prize money to be allocated to the league members at the conclusion of the competitions. The Premiership winners would receive £3.176 million, with a total pot of £24.5m to be distributed across the four divisions.League summary
League table
Positions by round
The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.| Leader – Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round | |
| Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round | |
| Qualification to Premiership play-off final | |
| Relegation to 2018–19 Scottish Championship |
| Team \ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Team \ Round | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Celtic | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Aberdeen | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Rangers | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Hibernian | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Kilmarnock | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 12 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Motherwell | 9 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| St Johnstone | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Dundee | 7 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Hamilton Academical | 11 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Partick Thistle | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Ross County | 5 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
Source:
Results
Matches 1–22
Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.Matches 23–33
Teams play every other team once.Matches 34–38
After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once. The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.Top six
Bottom six
Season statistics
Top scorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Kris Boyd | Kilmarnock | 18 |
| 2 |  Alfredo Morelos | Rangers | 14 |
| 3 | Josh Windass | Rangers | 13 |
| 4 | Kyle Lafferty | Heart of Midlothian | 12 |
| 5 |  Alex Schalk | Ross County | 11 |
| 6 | Scott Sinclair | Celtic | 10 |
Hat-tricks
Discipline
Player
Yellow cards
| Rank | Player | Club | Cards |
| 1 | Graeme Shinnie | Aberdeen | 15 |
| 1 | John McGinn | Hibernian | 15 |
| 3 | Murray Davidson | St Johnstone | 14 |
| 4 | Kyle Lafferty | Heart of Midlothian | 12 |
| 4 | Carl McHugh | Motherwell | 12 |
| 6 | John Souttar | Heart of Midlothian | 10 |
Red cards
Club
Yellow cards
| Rank | Club | Cards |
| 1 | Heart of Midlothian | 86 |
| 2 | Hamilton Academical | 82 |
| 3 | Rangers | 81 |
Red cards
| Rank | Club | Cards |
| 1 | Hamilton Academical | 9 |
| 2 | Heart of Midlothian | 5 |
| 2 | Motherwell | 5 |
| 2 | Rangers | 5 |
| 5 | St Johnstone | 4 |