Livingston have played 17 games so far this season and have won 5 of them. 2 wins coming in the League Cup. They have actually won 2 of their last 3 and drawn the other one scoring 7 goals in the process.
Their line up for the last 2 games has been 4-2-3-1. Their average player positions for their last two games are below.
In goals they have 32 Stryjek and he had 22 league starts last year and has been an ever present in the league with 11 starts this year.
At right back is 2 Nicky Devlin and he had 35 starts last year and 9 this year.
Earlier in the season 6 Ayo Obileye was playing at right centre back and 5 Jack Fitzwater was playing at left centre back but they have switched this in the last four games. Obileye was signed from Queen of the South in the summer and he has started every game this year. Fitzwater started 20 games last year and has been an every present this year.
At left back is 24 Sean Kelly who has started the last two games. He was signed in the summer from Falkirk.
The two sitting midfielders are 18 Jason Holt (who had 27 starts last year and has been an ever present this year) and either 12 Ben Williamson who is on loan from Rangers (and has had 4 starts) and 33 Stephane Omeonga (who has had 3 starts this season) who they signed from Italian club Pescara in the summer.
Two of the attacking midfield three are 8 Scott Pittman in the centre and 14 Odin Bailey on the right. Pittman had 37 starts last year and has had 6 this year while Bailey (on loan from Birmingham) has had 7 starts this year.
Left midfield is either 11 Cristian Montano who they signed from Port Vale in the summer and has 2 starts this year and 17 Alan Forrest who had 21 starts last year and has had 7 this year. Alan the brother of our very own Jamesy.
9 Bruce Anderson was signed from Aberdeen in the summer. Last year he had 14 appearances and 2 goals for Hamilton while on loan there. Anderson has had 8 starts this year.
Subs used in the last two games (who haven't been mentioned above) have been 4 Tom Parkes (defender) and 23 Jack Hamilton (attacker).
Top rated players in the last game for Livingston were;
- Stryjek 8.29
- Bailey 7.92
- Holt 7.73
In the last 3 games xG for Livingston was 0.37, 0.56 and 1.57. The players contributing to this have been;
- Pittman 0.67, Anderson 0.63, Montano 0.50, Bailey 0.26, Fitzwater 0.12, Forrest 0.11, Parkes 0.06, Obileye 0.05, Williamson 0.03, Holt 0.03 and Omeonga 0.03
Livingston attacks were still coming predominately down the right side but unlike previously more recently it was only 41% and 36%. Last season Livingston were a very high pressing and direct team with 17.6% of the xG coming from Turnovers and 25% of their actual goals came from Turnovers. Both these stats were the highest in the league. After 11 games of this season 48% of Livingston's passes have come in the final third and that's the highest of any team in the league. Last season our NP xG in our 4 games against Livingston was 1.59, 1.3, 2.05 and 2.42 with 3 of the games being played at Celtic Park. Livingston's NP xG was 0.28, 1,44, 0.5 and 0.6. In our previous game this season at Livingston the NP xG was 0.93 v 0.65 in our favour.
Livingston have won the most tackles of any team in the league so far this season with 120 tackles won. However this is a quantity stat as opposed to a quality one because their tackle win % is only 59% with only Motherwell and St Johnstone below this. The have had 117 interceptions which 2nd most after Motherwell who have had 118.
As much as Livingston away has been a bogey fixture for us Livingston at home is a different kettle of fish. This should be another comfortable win for us at home.
I would predict Giakoumakis will come back into the starting 11 and I'd be happy with that for this game. More game time for him and he could make a difference.
Abada might come back in but I don't know at who's expense. Jota rested? As much as this should be a straight forward win I don't think we can afford to rest Jota yet.
I'm predicting Bitton in for Rogic and Giakoumakis in for Johnston as the two changes but I'd prefer Giakoumakis for Rogic with Johnston playing in the No.10 position.
I'm going for a correct score of 7-0 at 65/1 and Celtic to eclipse their best result so far this season with Giakoumakis getting the match ball, Kyogo getting one, Ralston getting another, Turnbull getting one and Johnston scoring one from the bench.
Match probabilities are;
- Celtic 82%
- Livingston 5%
- A draw 13%
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