Livingston

Seven defeats on the bounce. No goals scored in their past six games. Twelve goals shipped since early October.

The stats are damning for one of the Premiership's traditionally resilient clubs, Livingston.

And the outlook looks challenging. Buoyed by a win over Celtic, Kilmarnock visit West Lothian on Saturday then Livi face Aberdeen and Rodgers' men on the road.

In previous seasons, manager David Martindale has been defiant about his team's hopes. This term, the tone has been somewhat more cautious. Livingston are in a relegation scrap and Martindale is not pretending otherwise.

It's a five-point gap to St Johnstone in second bottom going into this weekend. Martindale's men need points quickly to avoid being cut further adrift.

Read the rest of the Premiership picks here.

Image source, SNS

David Martindale has heaped praise on Kilmarnock and their manager Derek McInnes, but insists his side can beat them on Saturday in order to end their recent woes.

Livi sit bottom of the Scottish Premiership, five points behind St Johnstone, and have lost their last seven games.

“I think Derek’s done an unbelievable job,” said the Livi boss. “He’s spent his budget very well. He’s had two or three windows to get his identity in the team.

“I’ve said ever since he was at Aberdeen and even after he left Aberdeen, he’s one of the best managers in the Premiership and I think he’s again shown that with his Kilmarnock team.

“Against Derek, you always get a difficult game of football. He knows the league inside out and he always has his team extremely well-drilled.

“He went through a period of adversity last year and he kept Kilmarnock in the Premiership and now look what he’s doing this year. Two wins over Celtic and one over Rangers, that shows you the skill-set of the manager.

“I don’t care who’s coming here, we’re going out to win,” Martindale added. “I’m sitting here lauding the achievements of Kilmarnock but we’ve been there in previous seasons.

“Our job on Saturday is to take three points and I think we’re more than capable of doing that but I’m under no illusions how hard that’s going to be.”

• Livingston have won five of their last six home league games against Kilmarnock (L1), including each of their last three in succession.

• Kilmarnock have won both of their last two league games against Livingston, having lost five in a row to them before this.

• Livingston have lost each of their last seven league games. The last side to lose eight in a row in the Scottish Premiership was St Johnstone in January 2022.

• Kilmarnock have won both of their last two league games. Only once since their return to the top-flight in 2022 have they won three in a row, doing so in May/August this year, while Killie could win successive away Scottish Premiership matches for the first time since October 2020 – the second of which was at Livingston.

• Only Luis Palma (6) has more Scottish Premiership assists this season than Kilmarnock’s Daniel Armstrong (5). Armstrong has scored (3) or assisted (5) 44% of Killie’s league goals this season, with only Lawrence Shankland for Hearts (47%) being involved in a higher share of a side’s Scottish Premiership goals in 2023-24.

Livingston need a change in fortunes after seven defeats in a row when they host Kilmarnock on Saturday.

What changes would you make if you were the manager? Tell us here.

Stuart Barrie, Livingston fan

We’re bottom of the league, not scored in 686 minutes but if we’re going to go down, we need to go down fighting - just like we did against Hibs.

Once again, I believe there wasn’t much between us and our opponents. This time the players seemed motivated and we even had some actual shots on goal.

The first 15 minutes was all Livingston and we took the game to Hibs. They had pace on the break but we largely coped with their attacks, so it was a tad annoying when they scored.

Hibs keeper David Marshall made a few cracking saves and VAR should have been kinder to us, with two strong penalty claims denied. Even though VAR came out in our favour to chop off an offside Hibs ‘goal’ I still don’t like it. It’s not our plastic pitch that’s ruining football, it’s VAR!

Every player showed they were up for the fight in this game, none more so than James Penrice. I thought Andrew Shinnie and Kurtis Guthrie had a good game too.

We were more solid at the back with Ayo Obileye making a welcome return, so there are positives to take.

I think the key thing for us is to get the first goal and give us something to build on. We’ve just not got the confidence to fight our way back into games at the moment.

If we play like we did against Hibs, we may not win them all, but at least we can hold our heads up high.

Euan Rankine from the Talk Livi podcast wants Livingston manager David Martindale to let players “off the leash” in order for them to be creative and engineer opportunities in games.

Despite a tough start to Livingston’s league campaign, Rankine believes that they have the players that could get Livi “out of this mess”.

“I always thought this season was going to be our toughest, you look at the budget cuts, which the manager has spoken a lot about in the media, and we do have the lowest budget in the division,” said Bell on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast.

“So, every season is going to be a challenge for us, but I always thought this year was going to be the toughest, given how we finished last year.

“There were bad traits just setting in at the tail end of last year and it's lingering back into the side in this kind of recent run of form.

“Unless the manager changes his approach in terms of trying to go and win games of football and in terms of trying to cause teams problems instead of always thinking about how to be compact and stop teams from playing and stop teams creating chances, I can't see us getting out of it if I'm totally honest.

“It pains me to say that because I do think we've got the players at our disposal that could get us out of this mess if the manager lets them off the leash a little bit and allows them to be a bit more creative and allows them to create opportunities in games.

“At this moment in time, I just feel like he's stuck in a rut, of a way of thinking and I can't see us getting out of it.”

Image source, SNS

Livingston forward Kurtis Guthrie believes referees side with the bigger teams. (Scotsman - subscription required), external

Read Monday's Scottish Gossip

• Livingston have failed to score in their last six games in the Scottish Premiership, a run of 686 minutes without a goal.

• Davie Martindale's side have failed to score in nine of their 15 games, more often than any other team in the top-flight this season.

• Hibernian have kept a clean sheet in seven of their 17 games, only Rangers (10) have done this more often in the league this season.

• Hibernian have scored in 14 of their 17 games, no team has done so more often in the Scottish Premiership this season.

Image source, BBC Sport

Seven Premiership defeats in a row.

What did you make of the Hibs performance and what needs to change if Livingston are to get out of the situation they're in?

Get in touch.

Livingston manager David Martindale told BBC Scotland: "I look at the game, I think we were really unlucky not to take anything from the game. I thought the players' application, effort, intensity was all there.

"I thought there was a penalty in the first half for Kurtis Guthrie. I'm disappointed the on-field referee wasn't asked to go and look at that.

"I've got to take full responsibility. I've got big enough shoulders.

Asked if he'll stay in his position, he says: "It's not up to me. I've got a January window coming up and we can bring players in. Do I need to make the squad stronger? Of course I do.

"We played against a very good Hibs side today. I'm not trying to make excuses.

"I chose to be here. I'm up for the fight. I'm up for the challenge."

Image source, SNS

Sean McGill, BBC Sport Scotland

When these sides last met in August, they both seemed so far away from the current entities that stepped out in the rain at Almondvale.

Based off that showing on a summer's day in the sunshine on Leith, Livingston looked destined for another season of defying expectation.

Martindale's side showed flashes of the outfit that has impressed the top-flight for years, but the grit and guile that had become synonymous with this side has seemingly seeped away.

Seven losses in a row, the last six without scoring. That makes them first team to suffer six successive top-flight defeats with no goals since Aberdeen in 1999.

The manager maintains that the changing room holds the necessary quality to escape the self-admitted "crisis" they find themselves in.

With every passing week, the lack of evidence to back up that belief up leaves Livingston languishing.

Kurtis Guthrie was a proper handful for the Hibs centre-halves, particularly in the first half an hour or so.

The striker was incredulous when he wasn't awarded a penalty after he went down under contact from Joe Newell.

Image source, SNS

It's been two weeks since Livingston last kicked a ball, suffering a 1-0 defeat by St Mirren in Paisley.

David Martindale makes two changes from a fortnight ago, with forwards Joel Nouble and Bruce Anderson replaced by defenders Jamie Brandon and Ayo Obileye.

• Follow our live coverage

Image source, SNS

Image source, BBC Sport

Livingston: George, Brandon, Devlin, Nottingham, Obileye, Penrice, Kelly, Holt, Pittman, Guthrie, Shinnie.

Substitutes: Hamilton, Parkes, Anderson, Kelly, Welch-Hayes, Nouble, Sangare, Lloyd, Lawal.

Hibernian: Marshall, Whittaker, Fish, Hanlon, Obita, Levitt, Newell, Boyle, Vente, Youan, Tavares.

Substitutes: Wollacott, Jeggo, Stevenson, Doidge, Harbottle, Delferriere, Campbell, Bushiri, Molotnikov.

Image source, BBC Sport

Livingston could have defenders Ayo Obileye (foot) and Cristian Montano (hamstring) back in their squad.

Hibs should have Jordan Obita back after a hamstring injury while Dylan Vente is fully fit after sitting out the midweek defeat against Celtic as a precaution following a slight knock. Long-term absentees Adam Le Fondre (hamstring), Jake Doyle-Hayes (ankle), Harry McKirdy (heart) and Chris Cadden (Achilles) are all still unavailable.

Image source, SNS

David Martindale is relishing the opportunity to get Livingston back on the pitch after two weeks without a game.

Last week's home match against Ross County was delayed due to a frozen pitch, but the Lions still have two games on the bounce at home (Hibs then Kilmarnock) - and Martindale reckons they can beat anyone on their day at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

"We were going into a run of three games at home, which were going to be pivotal for us before the County game got delayed," Martindale said.

"We're at home (against Hibs) and if we're at home, no matter who we play, we've always got a chance.

"It's much more difficult going to Ibrox, Celtic Park, Tynecastle, Easter Road or Pittodrie, but when any of these teams come to Livingston we've got a good opportunity if we perform on the day."

Image source, SNS

St Johnstone defender Ryan McGowan says Hibs will face a “notoriously tough” test when they face Livingston on Saturday.

Livi currently sit bottom of the Premiership table and are four points from safety.

“It wasn't so long ago that we [St Johnstone] were kind of cut adrift from everybody and Livingston have shown over the years that when everyone's kind of doubting them, that's when they can get a big result,” McGowan said on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast.

“At the same time, Hibs have done well under Nick Montgomery, albeit not setting the world on fire, but they've just gone about their business relatively well in terms of picking up points and being hard to beat.

“Livingston is a notoriously tough place to go and it will be a big test for Hibs going there, if they wanted to try and get third or fourth and be up there, they need to be going to places like Livingston and winning comfortably.

“At the same time, Livingston will be looking at it as a game that they can get three points in and keep in touch with everybody else.”

BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English insists Livi need to score against a Hibs side who are coming into form.

“Livi have gone five without scoring and I think the last team to go six without scoring in the league is Aberdeen in 1999,” said English.

“So, something positive needs to happen at Livi pretty soon because that team looks in absolute freefall.

“David Martindale has lost that kind of mad energy that he had, he's more of a subdued character this season.

“There's a lot going on behind the scenes at Livingston, that is a troubled club and Hibs, despite the result the other night, Hibs have picked up, they're not in bad form at all.”