16 Sept 2021
Recent Form
Celtic were involved in a thriller on Thursday away at Real Betis, suffering a 4-3 defeat, but will expect to get back on track here.
They’ve now lost three of their past four fixtures, though the other defeats were also by one-goal margins to AZ Alkmaar and Rangers, so it’s hardly time for any panic to settle in.
Prior to this recent run, the Hoops had racked up six consecutive victories, including 6-0 wins over Dundee and St. Mirren at Parkhead.
They’ve also had 3-0 wins over Jablonec and Ross County on home turf this season, though their away form leaves a lot to be desired.
Still, their start to the season was disrupted with signings made late on, and given they’ve had some tough fixtures on the road so far, they should return to winning ways in this one.
Celtic To Win
Livingston are without a win in six fixtures now in all competitions, losing four of five league games so far this season to leave them at the bottom of the standings.
That includes 3-0 and 2-0 defeats to current top-two sides Rangers and Hibernian respectively, which leaves them with a W1-D4-L9 record against last season’s top three since the start of that campaign.
Celtic were without a number of players in Europe on Thursday. Liel Abada was missing for religious reasons, Callum McGregor picked up a minor hamstring issue last weekend, Giorgos Giakoumakis was deemed not fit enough to travel, while Greg Taylor, James Forrest, Christopher Jullien, Mikey Johnson and Kyogo Furuhashi are longer term absentees.
Abada should return here and quite possibly McGregor, both of whom should be considered key players, so Ange Postecoglou shouldn’t be restricted to a threadbare squad this time around.
Albian Ajeti To Score Anytime
With Kyogo Furuhashi injured and Odsonne Edouard leaving for Crystal Palace, forgotten man Albian Ajeti has stepped up to the plate with three goals across Celtic’s last two appearances.
The Swiss striker endured a difficult first campaign with the Hoops, but will be full of confidence having been finally handed his chance to shine, and didn’t deserve to be on the losing side midweek.
Given Celtic have netted at least twice in six of seven clashes with Livingston over the past two seasons, he’ll be disappointed if he can’t maintain his goalscoring run.
PREDICTIONS:
CELTIC TO WIN
ALBIAN AJETI TO SCORE ANYTIME
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