John Barnes makes Scottish Premiership title prediction as former Celtic boss praises Ange Postecoglou’s squad depth

Former Celtic manager John Barnes admits he is looking forward to seeing how the Scottish Premiership title race develops this season.

The Liverpool legend, who spent eight months in charge of the Hoops between 1999 and 2000, believes Rangers will continue to push the Parkhead club all the way and highlighted the importance of the Old Firm derbies this term.

Barnes has been impressed with the style of football Ange Postecoglou has implemented since his arrival last summer and reckons his side remain the team to catch.

Speaking to BonusCodeBets, Barnes said: “It’s what you would expect. You expect that (on being asked about Celtic’s first two Scottish Premiership games).

“Celtic haven’t surprised me with what they’ve done because they showed last year that they are the best team in Scotland.

“You look at the confidence they played in last year to go on and win the league. And (Ange) Postecoglou has got them playing in a good fashion. They’ve got good players.

“Rangers are obviously going to be there. I think that the Old Firm has gone back to what it should be. The two best teams in the country going at it head to head.”

The likes of Jota, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Kyogo Furuhashi have all been backed to flourish over the course of the campaign but Barnes is adamant Celtic’s biggest strength will be the entire squad and not just one individual.

He added: “I don’t think they (Celtic) are going to rely on any one player.

“Maybe in the past, they relied on a player to show his form, whereas now, even when players miss games, they still play in a way to confidently be better than other teams as much as they could drop points.

“But I think that they are really playing as a team rather than looking at an individual.”