Celtic forward Odsonne Edouard attempts to meet a looping ball with an acrobatic effort but, before he can connect, Joe Newell gets in quickly to take the ball away from him at the edge of the six yard box.

Moments later, Celtic come again but Mohamed Elyounoussi takes the ball too wide as he tries to round Ofir Marciano and the Israel international is able to recover and save.

Not much to report in the opening stages at McDiarmid Park, with both sides just easing their way into the game.

St Johnstone have shown more attacking intent thus far despite only needing a draw to secure fifth place.

Hibernian defender Darren McGregor is busy at both ends of the park.

Mohamed Elyounoussi nips onto a Jonjoe Kenny pass and slips the ball past the goalkeeper, but McGregor is on the line to clear.

A minute later, he meets a corner with a free header, but puts it over the bar.

Ouch!published at 12:33 British Summer Time 15 May 2021

12:33 BST 15 May 2021

Hibernian 0-0 Celtic

Odsonne Edouard takes an early bang in the face from the elbow of Hibs defender Darren McGregor. Referee Willie Collum sees nothing untoward and play continues.

And we're away at Ibrox, Easter Road and McDiarmid Park...

A nice touch from Hibs, who honour their former player Scott Brown with a memorial gift on his last appearance for Celtic.

He scored against Celtic at Easter Road on his farewell game for Hibs back in 2007. Could he reverse the roles today?

The midfielder's £4.4m transfer remains the highest fee paid from one Scottish club to another.

Image source, SNS

As Rangers prepare to lift their first major trophy in a decade, there are a number of other milestones they can reach other than becoming 'invincibles'.

Sitting on 99 points at the moment, they can break the 100 barrier for the first time in the club's history.

Steven Gerrard's side will also want to complete a 100% record at home, having won every league game at Ibrox so far.

They will also want to beat Celtic's clean-sheet record of 25 for a 38-game season (set in 2011-12) and match their city rivals' all-time record of 26, set way back in 1913-14.

Another clean sheet would also set a new record for goals conceded, with a mere 13 given away so far.

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Tyrone Smith
BBC Scotland at McDiarmid Park

High praise indeed for Callum Davidson from St Johnstone chairman Steve Brown, who writes in today's programme notes: "He's the best manager we've had in my tenure as chairman at the football club".

Brown took over from his dad Geoff in 2011, so that's a straight fight between Steve Lomas, Tommy Wright and Davidson, who is enjoying a dream debut season.

Wright, at Kilmarnock these days, might have something to say about that after steering the club to Scottish Cup glory in 2014 during seven largely successful years at the helm.

It doesn't sound too exciting, but it's a big deal for St Johnstone and Livingston.

The sides are locked on points going into today's meeting at McDiarmid Park with the Saints ahead on goal difference.

If the Perth side stay in front, then European football is guaranteed next season.

If they beat Hibs in the Scottish Cup final next weekend, a Europa League play-off awaits - and if third-placed Hibs win the cup then the team in fifth takes the final place in the new Conference League.

It might not be so simple for the West Lothian side since Livi have not been granted a licence to compete in Europe.

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Rangers may have fallen short in the cup competitions, but manager Steven Gerrard is on for his own personal treble.

The former Liverpool captain was named the SPFL manager of the year yesterday, with the Scottish Football Writers' Association award already in the bag.

The Ibrox boss is also the hot favourite for the PFA Scotland manager of the year, which will be announced tomorrow.

St Johnstone's Callum Davidson, Livingston’s David Martindale and John McGlynn of Raith Rovers are the other contenders.

The departing Ofir Marciano starts in goal for Hibernian, replacing Matt Macey from the midweek win over Aberdeen. He is one of eight changes as manager Jack Ross thinks ahead to next week's Scottish Cup final.

2016 cup final hero David Gray makes his first league start of the season, with attacking trio Martin Boyle, Kevin Nisbet and Christian Doidge rested.

There is no obvious forward in the home line-up as Ross goes all Pep Guardiola on us.

Celtic make two changes in what is expected to be John Kennedy's last game in charge.

Adam Montgomery returns to the bench, as does James Forrest. In come Callum McGregor and Greg Taylor.

The only changes to the Rangers and Aberdeen line-ups from midweek is in between the sticks.

Newly crowned SPFL player of the year Allan McGregor is back for Rangers, replacing Jon McLaughlin.

Aberdeen welcome back captain Joe Lewis, who may not be fully fit after a recent injury, but has been hurried along with back-up Gary Woods picking up a knock in training. If he doesn't last the 90 minutes then 18-year-old Tom Ritchie is in line for a debut from the bench.

Navigating St Johnstone through their recent Covid-19 troubles "has probably been the toughest time of my career" said manager Callum Davidson yesterday.

Prior to last weekend's Scottish Cup semi-final win over St Mirren, Saints announced two players had tested positive for Covid-19 and two others had been advised to isolate despite testing negative.

Five first-team regulars were missing from the squad at Hampden, with four more absent for Wednesday's 4-0 defeat at Celtic Park.

Liam Davidson, Murray Davidson and Stevie May are back today, which will cheer Davidson up.

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Goalkeeper Ofir Marciano ends his five-year stint at Hibs today, with the Israel international moving on under freedom of contract.

It is also Scott Brown's last appearance in Celtic colours as the club captain prepares for a new chapter at Aberdeen next season.

This has been a campaign to forget for the deposed champions but, with 22 trophies gathered over a 14-year spell, the 35-year-old midfielder bows out as a genuine club legend.

There may well be some other established players leaving Celtic over the summer, with a huge clear-out anticipated.

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With 37 games played, the runaway champions are yet to lose.

If Rangers get over the final hurdle against Aberdeen today, they will be the first team to go an entire top-flight campaign unbeaten since Celtic under Brendan Rodgers in 2016-17.

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Earlier this week, Rangers asked fans to mark the club's title success in a "safe and sensible manner" adding "please be mindful of the guidelines regarding gathering in large numbers".

Err... It looks like quite a few supporters have chosen to turn up at Ibrox anyway, with the trophy day party already in full swing.

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

St Johnstone: Zlamal, Brown, Rooney, Kerr, McCart, Booth, Craig, Davidson, Wotherspoon, May Melamed.

Substitutes: Wills, Conway, Bryson, Kane, Middleton, Gilmour, Ferguson, Robertson.

Livingston: Stryjek, McMillan, Fitzwater, Guthrie, Longridge, Bartley, Diani, Pittman, Kabia, Emmanuel-Thomas, Poplatnik.

Substitutes: Maley, Ambrose, Lithgow, Serrano, Holt, Mullin, Forrest.

Hibernian: Marciano, Gray, Porteous, McGregor, Stevenson, Wright Newell, Gogic Hallberg, Magennis, Murphy.

Substitutes: Dabrowski, Hanlon, McGinn, Doidge, Boyle, Nisbet, Doig, Irvine, Macey.

Celtic: Barkas, Kenny, Ajer, Welsh, Taylor, Brown, Turnbull, McGregor, Christie, Elyounoussi Edouard.

Substitutes: Hazard, Griffiths, Ajeti, Soro, Murray, Forrest, Montgomery, Ralston, Dembele.

Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Simpson, Aribo, Davis, Kamara, Hagi, Roofe, Kent, Morelos.

Substitutes: McLaughlin, Firth, Defoe, Itten, Wright, Stewart, Arfield, King.

Aberdeen: Lewis, McKenzie, Hoban, Considine, Hayes, McLennan, Ferguson, McGeouch, Hedges, Kamberi, Hendry.

Substitutes: Ritchie, Hornby, McGinn, Ross, Campbell, Gallagher, Ruth, Kennedy, Ramsay.