An inspection of recent Scottish Premier League tables will show that Scottish football has never been so heavily dominated by the two Old Firm teams.

Five years ago, Hearts finished in third position, just seven points behind champions Celtic. In 2003, the Edinburgh club returned to the UEFA Cup ahead of fourth-placed Kilmarnock - but 34 points behind both Glasgow clubs.

In effect, there is absolutely no possibility of an upset in the Premier League, which starts today with Celtic playing Dunfermline and Rangers taking on Kilmarnock.

The difference between the two current squads is minimal, and neither club have had a huge amount of money to spend. Martin O'Neill brought no new faces to Parkhead during the summer and, while there was transfer movement at Ibrox, it was nothing that will greatly improve the team.

There may be movement out of Celtic Park soon, however, as Didier Agathe's has admitted he wants a new challenge. The Frenchman says the SPL no longer holds any excitement for him and he would like to try his luck in England or Spain.

"Celtic is a great club but, at 28 years of age, I would like to discover new horizons," Agathe said. "The league is not very exciting. Fortunately there is Europe - Europe motivates us the most."

There was some good news for O'Neill yesterday as star striker Henrik Larsson is available for today's game.

Larsson missed the midweek Champions League qualifier against Kaunas with a hamstring strain, which he had picked up in the first-leg in Lithuania a week earlier.

John Hartson is struggling with a calf strain, while Chris Sutton is banned from the first five games of the season - thanks to his double red card on the last day of last term and his comments that Dunfermline "laid down" to Rangers to hand them the title.