Celtic v Livingston: Team News, Match Officials, KO Time and Where to Watch

Celtic face Livingston this evening in the first home fixture since the return of Premiership action. Following a win at Pittodrie, Celtic were pegged back to six points after theRangers also won against Aberdeen meaning that Ange Postecoglou’s team can restore their nine point gap tonight.

The teams met at the end of October with the Scottish Champions winning 3-0. Livingston have often been a thorn in Celtic’s side and will likely pose a number of issues with their stubborn defensive set-up.

Speaking ahead of this evening’s match the Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou appreciates that David Martindale’s side are always a tricky opponent.

“It’s always a difficult challenge because the thing with Livingston is that, irrespective of who they’re playing against, they have a certain style and stick to it which gives them some sort of certainty going into every game,” Ange Postecoglou said.  “If you go into a game and change every week then it can put players into that air of uncertainty. We’ve played them a few times now, but it’s a different challenge both home and away.

‘It’s Celtic Park and we can do certain things which are difficult for us to do on their turf, so it will be a good challenge for us. Their game got cancelled at the weekend so they come in and it can go one of two ways where they have a lot of energy or, if they’re not quite at it early on, then we can take advantage of it.”

Team News

The Scottish Premiership’s November Player of the Month Sead Hakšabanović returns to the squad after missing out on the trip to Pittodrie after picking up a knock at training last Friday. Josip Juranovic is currently enjoying his post World Cup week-off while James McCarthy remains in rehab after suffering a hamstring injury last month. Steven Welsh is also missing, with Ange reporting that he’ll be out for a few more weeks, again after picking up an injury, this one happening on the last day of the wintertraining week in the Algarve.

Predicted Team

Never easy second guessing Ange but while we got close at the weekend Daizen Maeda starting scuppered our chances of a full house.  Our Predicted XI for the match against Livingston this evening is as follows:

Carl Starfelt and Luis Duk Lopes during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Aberdeen and Celtic at Pittodrie on 17 December 2022. Photo Stephen Dobson PSI

Joe Hart; Anthony Ralston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt, Greg Taylor; Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley, Reo Hatate; Liel Abada, Kyogo and Jota.

On the bench: Ben Siegrist, Moritz Jenz, Alexandro Bernabei, Aaron Mooy, David Turnbull, James Forrest, Sead Hakšabanović,  Giorgos Giakoumakis and Daizen Maeda.

Kick-Off Time

The game will kick-off at 7:45pm (Celtic Park time).

Match Officials

Photo Malcolm Mackenzie PSI

The Scottish FA have appointed Euan Anderson as the referee for tonight’s Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park between Celtic and Livingston. Anderson will be assisted by Ross Macleod and David Doig and the fourth official is Matthew McDermid. Their ludge-VAR operator is Steven Kirkland and David Roome is the ludge-VAR assistant.

Where to Watch

The game will be shown on Celtic TV for subscribers outside Britain & Ireland. The game will also be shown on PPV for £12.99 as the club offer an alternative for fans that are unable to attend. Celtic have made the fixture available to fans in the UK and Ireland with StreamDigital’s PPV service, taking advantage of the recent changes to the SPFL’s broadcasting contract with Sky Sports which allows clubs to offer PPV on selected matches.

Your pay-per-view pass can be purchased for £12.99 which includes all the build-up, live match action and half-time and full-time analysis. You can purchase your match pass HERE.

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About Author

Born just as Celtic were stopping the Ten, Lubo98 follows Celtic home and away and helps run his local Celtic Supporters Club. He goes to all the games and is a Law Graduate. Has a particular fondness for Tom Rogic among the current Celts and both Lubo and Henrik form his earliest Celtic memories.

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