Preview: Livingston vs St Mirren - prediction, team news, lineups

Two Scottish Premiership teams fighting to avoid relegation met at the Home of the Set Fare Arena on Saturday afternoon, as basement club Livingston play host to St Mirren.

The Lions are still searching for their first win over the Saints this season, having already lost 1-0 away and drawn 1-1 at home in the top flight, as well as suffering a Scottish Cup fourth-round loss on penalties.

Match preview

After winning the Scottish Championship title last season, Livingston now have a mountain to climb if they wish to avoid an immediate demotion from the top flight, as they currently sit 10 points adrift of safety and eight points behind the relegation playoff position.

Just 13 points have been accumulated across 28 Premiership matches this term, the fewest by any team at this stage of a Scottish top-flight campaign since Livingston themselves back in 2005-06 (12 points in 28 games).

Marvin Bartley was promoted to first-team manager following David Martindale's decision to swap the dugout for a sporting director role at the beginning of the month. The 39-year-old is still searching for his first win in charge (D2 L2), with the Lions most recently letting a two-goal lead slip with just nine minutes remaining to draw 2-2 with title hopefuls Rangers last weekend.

No Premiership team has lost more points from winning positions this season than Livingston (20, level with Dundee United). In contrast, Saturday’s opponents St Mirren have recovered the fewest points (two) from losing positions of any club.

Since beating Celtic in the Scottish League Cup final in mid-December, the Saints have won just two of their last 12 Premiership matches (D3 L6), losing each of their last three this month against Kilmarnock (4-3), Hibernian (2-0) and Motherwell (5-0).

Head coach Stephen Robinson has taken “full responsibility” for their heavy five-goal home loss last weekend, which leaves St Mirren sitting 10th in the table and just two points above Kilmarnock in the relegation playoff position, with fears of exiting the top flight after eight seasons increasing.

St Mirren head into Saturday’s clash with Livingston winless in 10 Premiership outings on the road (D2 L8) – they have never endured a longer run without a top-flight away win since a streak of 20 from November 2009 to October 2010.

However, the Saints can take comfort from the fact that they have only lost one of their last 15 Premiership meetings with Livingston (W7 D7), losing 1-0 in February 2024.

Livingston Scottish Premiership form:

St Mirren Scottish Premiership form:

St Mirren form (all competitions):

Team News

Livingston’s Cristian Montano is suspended following his red card against Rangers last time out, while Scott Arfield, Samson Lawal, Josh Zimmerman, Aidan Denholm (all hamstring) and Connor McLennan (ankle) are all set to remain sidelined with injuries.

New recruits Joel Nouble and Barrie McKay both featured as substitutes last weekend and Bartley will consider handing them starts in attack against St Mirren, with the former a contender to lead the line and the latter available to operate centrally or out wide.

As for St Mirren, their appeal against the red card shown to Richard King during last weekend’s loss to Motherwell was successful, so the defender is available to play in defence against Livingston, with Robinson likely to revert to a three-at-the-back system for this match.

Keanu Baccus made his comeback as a substitute against Motherwell after 10 weeks out with a hamstring injury and the midfielder could be ready to start on Saturday, but Jonah Ayunga (calf) and Malik Dijksteel (groin) remain in the treatment room.

Livingston possible starting lineup:

Prior; Wilson, Kabongolo, McGowan; Finlayson, Pittman, Danso, Tait, McKay; Nouble, Muirhead

St Mirren possible starting lineup:

George; Fraser, King, Freckleton; McMenamin, Gogic, Phillips, Devaney, John; Nlundulu, Mandron

We say: Livingston 1-2 St Mirren

These two teams are desperate to claim maximum points, but defensive frailties have proven costly throughout this campaign and it would not come as a surprise to see the net ripple at both ends this weekend.

Livingston have not lost any of their last five Premiership home games against St Mirren (W1 D4), but we are backing the visitors to claim an important victory this time around to boost their survival hopes.

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