Preview: Livingston vs Hearts - prediction, team news, lineups

Livingston will aim to hand Hearts their first league defeat of the 2025-26 Scottish Premiership season when they meet on Saturday afternoon.

The hosts have won one, drawn one and lost one of their first three league games, while the visitors have won two and drawn one of their three outings.

Match preview

Livingston were relegated from the top division in 2023-24 but were able to secure immediate promotion back to the Scottish Premiership as they won the promotion playoffs last season.

David Martindale's side carried their strong momentum into the beginning of this term, winning three and losing one of their Scottish League Cup group games, leading them to a second-placed finish and progression from the group.

Livingston followed that up with a draw against Kilmarnock and win over Falkirk in their opening two league games, but they have now suffered back-to-back defeats heading into this one.

The Lions were defeated 2-0 by Hibernian in the second round of the Scottish League Cup, followed by a crushing 3-0 loss to Celtic last time out.

Livingston will be hoping to snap their losing streak when they host Hearts on Saturday, but the Jambos are in superb form heading into the encounter and will be favourites to claim all three points.

Hearts had a difficult 2024-25 campaign, dropping out of the top four for the first time since returning to the Scottish Premiership in 2021-22, leading to the changing of manager toward the end of the season.

Derek McInnes was appointed to lead the club into the new term, and the manager has won six and drawn two of his eight competitive games in charge, though one draw did result in a penalty loss to St Mirren in the Scottish League Cup second round.

Those results include two wins and one draw in the Scottish Premiership, defeating Aberdeen and Dundee United in their first two games before fighting from 3-0 down to brilliantly draw with Motherwell.

Aiming to maintain their unbeaten start to the league season, Hearts will be looking to continue their strong record against Livingston, having won all of their last three meetings.

Livingston Scottish Premiership form:

D W L

Livingston form (all competitions):

W W D W L L

Hearts Scottish Premiership form:

W W D

Hearts form (all competitions):

W W W W D D

Team News

Livingston will be without Cammy Kerr and Aidan Denholm due to ongoing injury issues, while Shane Blaney may be a doubt after coming off with an injury worry against Celtic.

The Lions will also be unable to call upon the services of midfielder Macauley Tait, who can not play against his parent club, meaning Mohammad Sylla, Scott Pittman and Graham Carey could feature in midfield.

Meanwhile, Hearts will be without Craig Gordon, Jamie McCart, Calem Nieuwenhof, Finlay Pollock, Kenneth Vargas, Christian Borchgrevink and Ryan Fulton due to injury issues.

Claudio Braga came off the bench to score twice as Hearts came from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 with Livingston last time out, and the forward is expected to come into the starting 11 for this one.

Livingston possible starting lineup:

Prior; Finlayson, McGowan, Wilson, Blaney, Lawal; Pittman, Sylla, Carey, Winter; Muirhead

Hearts possible starting lineup:

Clark; Steinwender, Halkett, Findlay, Milne; McEntee, Devlin, Baningime; Braga, Shankland, Kyziridis

We say: Livingston 0-2 Hearts

Livingston have suffered back-to-back defeats heading into this one, while Hearts are still undefeated inside 90 minutes this season, leaving the visitors in superior form coming into the clash.

As the Jambos also have a strong recent record in this fixture, we expect the visitors to secure another win on Saturday afternoon.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.