Livingston will aim to recover from their opening-day defeat to St Mirren when they play host to Hibernian in the second round of Scottish Premiership fixtures.

In contrast, Hibernian's campaign started in perfect fashion as they enjoyed a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock on Saturday.

Match preview

General view of Almondvale Stadium, home to Livingston, from 2005 © Reuters

Having managed to navigate three pre-season fixtures without defeat, Livingston fans would have been forgiven for expecting their team to triumph over a St Mirren side who finished the 2019-20 campaign in the bottom half of the table.

However, Gary Holt's side ultimately succumbed to a 1-0 defeat in their inaugural game of the season, as St Mirren new boy Richard Tait headed in the only goal of the game on the half-hour mark.

While it is certainly not the ideal start for Livingston, who registered a top-five finish last season, there is still plenty of time to put things right in their third successive season of top-flight football.

Livi are now returning to familiar territory at the Almondvale Stadium, where they have triumphed in six of their last eight Scottish Premiership outings and are yet to taste defeat on home turf since the turn of the year.

Meanwhile, Kilmarnock were unable to storm a late comeback against Hibernian as Jack Ross witnessed his side come away with all three points on the first day of the season.

Martin Boyle opened his account for the campaign after only five minutes before bagging his second just after the half-hour mark, and even though Kilmarnock's Chris Burke scored a thunderous free-kick to set up a nervy second half, Hibs held on to take the spoils.

Having just missed out on a top-six finish as the 2019-20 season was decided on a points-per-game basis, Hibs will no doubt be motivated to push for a European berth this time around.

Ross's men will now face a Livingston side whom they have beaten 14 times from 21 outings, but the two clubs played out 2-2 and 1-1 draws either side of a 2-0 Livingston victory last season.

Livingston Scottish Premiership form: L

Hibernian Scottish Premiership form: W

Team News

Jack Ross pictured in charge of Sunderland in September 2019 © Reuters

Former captain Alan Lithgow is Livingston's only long-term absentee after undergoing hip surgery, with Holt otherwise having a full squad of players at his disposal.

Livingston's players would have no doubt felt frustrated as they walked away from their encounter with St Mirren empty-handed, and Holt may be reluctant to make too many changes to his side despite their opening-day defeat.

Salim Kouider-Aissa made his debut for Livi against St Mirren - replacing Alan Forrest on the hour mark - and the 24-year-old will be hopeful of getting some more minutes on the board here.

As far as Hibs are concerned, Ross is expected to stick with the majority of the same side that got the job done over Kilmarnock on the opening day.

Christian Doidge had to make do with a spot among the replacements last weekend, but with Drey Wright struggling with a thigh strain, Boyle may start on the right-hand side allowing Doidge to partner Kevin Nisbet up top.

Livingston possible starting lineup:
McCrorie; Fitzwater, Guthrie, Taylor-Sinclair; Devlin, Bartley, Robinson, Ambrose; Forrest, Souda; Dykes

Hibernian possible starting lineup:
Marciano; McGinn, Porteous, Hanlon; Boyle, Allan, Gogic, Newell, Doig; Nisbet, Doidge

We say: Livingston 1-1 Hibernian

This is a difficult game to call. Both sides will be eyeing up a top-four finish this season, and even though Livingston failed to triumph on the opening day, Holt's men did not perform all that badly whatsoever. Hibs should feel confident of taking all three points following their recent win, but Livi boast a strong recent home record, so we expect the two clubs to play out a closely-fought draw on Saturday afternoon.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting an away win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Livingston win with a probability of 45.25%. A win for Hibernian had a probability of 28.14% and a draw had a probability of 26.6%.

The most likely scoreline for a Livingston win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.94%) and 2-0 (8.45%). The likeliest Hibernian win was 0-1 (8.89%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.61%). The actual scoreline of 1-4 was predicted with a 0.6% likelihood.