Celtic and Rangers eye Champions League restart as nightmare automatic group stage situation back in play

Last season was huge in terms of the Premiership title race, with Celtic looking to win a historic 10th title in a row and Rangers going all-out to stop them.

Steven Gerrard's side romped home to complete their return to prominence but, as big as that achievement was, there's arguably even more on the line this season.

Thanks to improved performances in Europe, the league champions this season stand to bank a £40million windfall with an automatic place in the Champions League.

There could hardly be a bigger carrot in a tight title race, but both sides will be aware those riches are not guaranteed as Scotland began the season ranked 11th in the coefficient.

There are 26 automatic places on offer, with 12 going to the top four from England, Spain, Italy and Germany.

France and Portugal's top two are in, as are the champions of the Netherlands, Russia, Belgium and Austria.

That leaves two places for the Champions League and Europa League winners, but if the European champions have already qualified then the former place goes to Scotland.

That's a virtual certainty but if, like Chelsea in 2012, the Champions League winners haven't qualified via their domestic competition they will go straight into the group and the Premiership winners will enter the play-off round.

So, should Rangers and Celtic fans be worried?

The statistical analysis website FiveThirtyEight uses a complex algorithm to work out the probabilities for both domestic leagues and European competitions.

We've run the numbers to work out the chances of that automatic place being taken away by looking at the data for all 16 teams left in the Champions League, factoring in each side's chances of winning it and the likelihood they don't qualify via their