CELTIC haven't dined out on too many victories at the Tony Macaroni Arena and this trip to Livingston provides an early test of their title credentials under Ange Postecoglou.
With Kilmarnock and Hamilton both dropping into the Championship at the end of last season, the only plastic pitch in Scotland's top flight is now found in West Lothian.
And both sides of the Old Firm have slipped up there in recent seasons, with Celtic finding the artificial surface particularly tricky.
Postecoglou has won Parkhead plaudits for his free-flowing football but his side might find it hard to weave pretty patterns on Livi's pitch, especially after a gruelling Europa League trip to Spain.
The Lions have punched above their weight in the last two seasons with successive top-six finishes but it was always going to difficult to maintain those standards.
I flagged Livingston up as a decent bet for the drop at 7/1 before a ball was kicked and David Martindale's men currently sit bottom after collecting just a point so far.
But you can never write this Livi side off and Martindale will be hoping another shock win over Celtic can spark them to life and begin another climb up the table.
How the bookies view it
Despite Celtic having a dismal away record so far this season, they are heavy favourites for a win in Livingston at a best 10/17 with VBet. Martindale's side are as big as 6/1 with Betfair while the stalemate pays 7/2 with SkyBet.
Recent head to head
Livingston have been a bogey team for Celtic who have failed to win on their last four visits to the Tony Macaroni. Three of those games ended in draws while the Lions claimed a memorable 2-0 win in October 2019 (below). In the last 10 meetings at either ground, the Hoops have only claimed four victories.
Players to watch
Livingston will target Celtic from set-pieces, which was an Achilles heel for the Hoops last season, so it could pay to back one of their defenders at long-odds for a goal. New signing Ayo Obileye scored nine times for Queen of the South last term and is already off the mark for Livi. I could only find him at 6/1 with Unibet for a goal but you might get a much bigger price requesting a bet with some of the firms who don't have him listed.
Josip Juranovic scored from the spot in the 4-3 loss to Real Betis and it looks like he is on the penalties now for Celtic. The bookies don't seem to have cottoned on yet and the Croatian full-back is a whopping 14/1 at Paddy Power for anytime scorer which looks amazing value.
Anything else catch the eye?
Postecoglou refuses to abandon his high-risk attacking approach and it usually leads to goals galore. It has ended 2-2 on Celtic's last two visits to Livi so over 2.5 goals looks good value for accas at 4/5 with Mansionbet while over 3.5 strikes pays 15/8 with SBK. Both teams to score also stands a chance at 20/23 with Betfair.
Livingston are usually good value in the corner market and I cashed in by backing them for over 4.5 corners at Parkhead last season when they ended up racking up nine. So it could pay to back the Lions for more corners here, with that same over 4.5 bet paying 49/50 at Unibet. Over 10.5 match corners is 10/11 with the same firm.
Livingston love to get stuck in and there could be a few cards with the Lions desperate to pick up points. Over 3.5 match cards looks decent at 21/20 with Unibet, who also offer 41/50 on Livi to pick up the most cards.
This Scottish Premiership match between Livingston and Celtic will be played on Sep 19, 2021 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Livingston vs Celtic prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
Great spot on Juranovic
To no avail sadly. Think Celtic could have played for about four hours and not scored in that game. Still worth keeping an eye on his prices for a while though as Celtic win a lot of pens