Hearts shall be hoping to extend their four-match undefeated run on Saturday when they host fifth-placed Livingston in their latest Scottish Premiership fixture.
The visitors are also in good form, going five league games without a loss, until their most recent outing, as the Lions continue to fight to secure a place in the top four.
Match preview
© Reuters
Hearts have already secured a third-placed finish in the Scottish Premiership this season, with the club not being able to be caught, while they cannot overtake Rangers either with the number of games remaining.
However, Robbie Neilson's team will still be hoping to finish their campaign as strong as possible in terms of points, plus the Jambos will be looking for momentum heading into their Scottish Cup semi-final.
The team progressed into the final four last weekend, putting together an impressive offensive performance, as they defeated St Mirren 4-2 thanks to goals from Beni Baningime, Peter Haring, Aaron McEneff and Ellis Simms.
Hearts have also been dominant at home throughout this season, having only lost three league games in front of their own fans, and that will provide plenty of confidence to the squad heading into this match.
However, the squad were held to a draw during their most recent outing, with Craig Halkett scoring in the 81st minute to lead to a 2-2 result against Dundee United, and they will now want to get back to winning ways.
© Reuters
The visitors have been putting together some strong performances of their own recently, but they were defeated during their last performance when they faced the league leaders Celtic.
The Hoops dominated the match, which led to a 3-1 victory, as Andrew Shinnie's goal proved to have no real impact on the grand scheme of things on that day.
However, prior to that the Lions had gone five games in a row without a loss, and the squad shall be hoping to get back into that form this weekend as the club push for a top-four finish.
Livingston have no Scottish Cup distractions, and that is because of Hearts, which they will want to get revenge on, with the Jambos having knocked them out in the fifth round.
The two dreams produced a goalless draw all the way through extra time, showcasing there is very little to separate them, with the fixture being resolved via a penalty shootout on that day.
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- D
- D
- W
- W
- L
- D
- L
- D
- W
- W
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Hearts could be set to bring back Josh Ginnelly, Gary Mackay-Steven and Alex Cochrane, with the trio expected to be available after dealing with slight knocks recently.
However, this fixture will come too soon for John Souttar and Cammy Devlin, with both men still on the shelf, and they are not going to be options for this one.
Bruce Anderson will be unavailable in this match for Livingston after he picked up an ankle injury during training, which could lead to Jon Nouble leading the line for the club instead.
That is the only injury concern that the club are having to deal with though, which is positive news for the Lions, meaning they have a fully-fit squad to head into the game.
Hearts possible starting lineup:
Gordon; Atkinson, Halkett, Kingsley, Halliday; Haring, Baningime; Woodburn, Boyce, McKay; Simms
Livingston possible starting lineup:
Stryjek; Devlin, Fitzwater, Obileye, Penrice; Omeonga, Holt, Pittman, Shinnie, Forrest; Nouble
We say: Hearts 2-1 Livingston
Both teams are heading into this game in good form, and that is something that should lead to a close encounter between them as each club hopes to create a strong finish.
However, Hearts having the home advantage should see them secure victory.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Hearts win with a probability of 64.16%. A draw had a probability of 21.2% and a win for Livingston had a probability of 14.64%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hearts win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.7%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.24%) and 2-1 (9.7%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.05%), while for a Livingston win it was 0-1 (5.21%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 12.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Hearts would win this match.
