It is two days to the opening of the football season in England and Scotland... Just for some fun, let's have some predictions on this weekend's results. The fixtures: Tottenham v Manchester City
Aston Villa v West Ham
Blackburn Rovers v Everton
Bolton Wanderers v Fulham
Sunderland v Birmingham
Wigan Athletic v Blackpool
Wolverhampton v Stoke City
Chelsea v West Brom
Liverpool v Arsenal (Sunday)
Manchester United v Newcastle (Monday) and in Scotland: Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Celtic
Aberdeen v Hamilton Academical
Hearts v St.Johnstone
Rangers v Kilmarnock
St. Mirren v Dundee United
Motherwell v Hibernian (Sunday)

Celtic managed to beat Braga 2-1, but go down on aggregate 2-4, leaving Europe before the beginning of the Scottish season. Scotland's coefficient for European qualification will likely take another hit as a result after this season.

The last time someone outside the Old Firm won the Scottish championship, Ronald Reagan was still president of the US, Wrigley field had no lights, Prince William Sound had no oil, Maradona's hand was merely human, and Heysel was not yet an infamous name in English history. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose... According to the bookmakers, Rangers and Celtic are expected to have a good race to the title. Dundee United is third favorite, at over 60-1... Rangers probably hold more interest for American football fans, as they were, until recently, the home of DaMarcus Beasley, and remain the home of Maurice Edu. Despite injuries, Edu appeared in 15 of 38 games last year for Rangers, enough to earn a championship medal, and scored the winning goal in injury time against Celtic in an Old Firm derby. Edu recently started and played 90 minutes for Rangers in a friendly in Sydney, Australia, that ended 0-0. Rangers have had some financial issues recently, and were not active on the transfer market over the summer, this may allow Celtic a chance to close the gap this season. Celtic's season has already started with a 0-3 loss at Braga in the Champions League third qualifying round. Dominic Cervi is on the roster, but has yet to make an appearance in the SPL. Celtic have been active in the transfer market, picking up players from Israel (Beram Kayal), Mexico (Efrain Juarez) and South Korea (Du-Ri Cha) as well as local talent. Season starts on August 14, with the first Old Firm derby on October 24!