- SPFL split fixtures are due to be announced over the next week.
- Usual precedent means the team at the top of the league gets the last game at home.
- The final table won’t be known until after the SPFL Premiership games this weekend.
With the top and bottom six of the Premiership confirmed, fans of all persuasions are eagerly awaiting the SPFL split fixtures.
The clubs know who their opponents will be, but all that remains is the crucial order of the games and in the case of Rangers, which venue they will be visiting for the third time this season.
The anomaly of the Scottish Premiership is that you can be home or away to a club for a third time in the same campaign, due to the required 19/19 balance of home and away games.
However, Rangers and the other clubs could be forced to wait another week to find out the SPFL split fixtures.
Who will be at home on the last day of the SPFL split?
Since 2013, when the league was rebranded from the Scottish Premier League (SPFL) to the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the team leading the top tier has been given a home game on the last day of the season.
With just three points separating first to third going into Game 33, that could mean waiting on the outcome of next weekend before the rest is set.
As it stands, there is uncertainty on who will take the lead going into the split.
Hearts sit top of the pile at present, but after they were held to a draw at Livingston on Sunday, they face a tough fixture at home to Motherwell on Saturday.
When will the SPFL split fixtures be confirmed?
They are just one point ahead of Rangers, who set the pace with a convincing 4-2 win over Dundee United, who will be ready to pounced if Hearts slip-up again.
Rangers’ last game before the SPFL split fixtures commence is a visit to Falkirk on Sunday.
That will be a formidable contest with the Bairns, given the impressive form of John McGlynn’s side.
As for Celtic, they host St. Mirren on Saturday with only an outside chance of grabbing top spot.
They would need both their title rivals to lose and to turn around a Goal Difference deficit.
Read Rangers analysis
In a previous official communication, the league body said the SPFL split fixtures would be confirmed after Game 33.
There’s a good chance that situation will remain, despite the clamour for information and certainty, amid this thrilling title race.
The other option is that they call it as it is this week, and thrash out the fixtures, after talks with the police and Sky.
On reflection, that seems unlikely as it goes against precedent and the usual way that the SPFL goes about its business.
As it stands, the signals point to an announcement of the SPFL split fixtures next Monday or Tuesday.
