Scottish Premiership: Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Motherwell and Livingston feature in team of the week | Football News

The new Scottish Premiership season kicked off in style as Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibernian and Motherwell made winning starts.

After Ange Postecoglou’s champions got their title defence off to a perfect start against Aberdeen – three Celtic players were named in the WhoScored.com Scottish Premiership team of the week.

Rangers fought back from a shock Livingston opener to also secure a victory and match their rivals with three players in the XI.

Hearts will hope to push the Old Firm this season and are represented, as are Hibernian, Livingston and Motherwell, who recovered from Graham Alexander’s departure with a win.

Here, WhoScored.com take a look at the five best-rated players to make the team of the week as the new Scottish Premiership got under way…

5. Jota (Celtic) – 8.14 rating

After an impressive loan spell, Celtic understandably made Jota’s loan move permanent this summer. The Portuguese winger was one of the stars of their title-winning season, and put in a solid display as they got their defence off to a 2-0 win over Aberdeen on Sunday. Jota scored Celtic’s second of the afternoon, finding a way past Kelle Roos with one of four shots, while two key passes and two successful dribbles saw him return a WhoScored.com rating of 8.14.

4. Stephen Welsh (Celtic) – 8.35 rating

Remaining with Celtic, and this time with centre-back Stephen Welsh. Welsh was unable to force his way into the starting XI last season, with Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers ahead of the 22-year-old in the pecking order, yet he gave a timely reminder of his quality at the weekend. The Scot put the champions ahead early on and was sound defensively to help Celtic to a clean sheet, making two tackles and two clearances to help land a rating of 8.35.

3. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) – 8.38 rating

The third and final Celtic player in the team of the week, Matt O’Riley, provided the assist for Welsh’s early opener against Aberdeen, that coming from one of six goal-scoring chances created against the Dons. The 21-year-old also fancied his chances of getting on the scoresheet, too, as he mustered four shots in a man-of-the-match performance that saw him yield a rating of 8.38.

2. Liam Kelly (Motherwell) – 8.42 rating

Moving away from Celtic’s win on Sunday and instead switching the focus on Motherwell’s hard-fought 1-0 win at St Mirren, with Liam Kelly the star performer at the SMISA Stadium. Kevin van Veen’s first-half penalty may have earned the Well the win, yet Kelly put in an inspired display between the sticks. The 26-year-old saved all six shots on target that he faced to nail down the goalkeeper spot with a WhoScored.com rating of 8.42.

1. James Tavernier (Rangers) – 9.07 rating

With a rating of 9.07, James Tavernier is the WhoScored.com Scottish Premiership player of the week. The Rangers skipper scored the winning goal as the Ibrox side came from behind to beat Livingston 2-1 in the opening game of the season. Tavernier was unfortunate not to add an assist having made two key passes, while an impressive five tackles capped a superb performance from the 30-year-old.