A repeat of last season's Scottish League Cup final will take place at McDiarmid Park on Saturday afternoon, as St Johnstone host Livingston in the Premiership.
The two sides locked horns on five occasions across all competitions in 2020-21, winning two games each before playing out a goalless draw in their most recent league meeting in May.
Match preview
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St Johnstone claimed just their second league victory of the campaign when they beat newly-promoted Dundee on home soil before the international break.
A first-half brace from Chris Kane as well as Stevie May's 46th-minute strike put the Saints into a comfortable 3-0 lead before Ryan Sweeney pulled one back for the visitors in the final 15 minutes.
That result has seen Callum Davidson's men climb two places up to eighth in the table, six points clear of the relegation zone and five points behind the top four.
St Johnstone have had a slow start to the 2021-22 season, but they have actually claimed two more points than at this stage last season.
The Saints have lost only one of their last 12 home encounters against Livingston – a 2-1 defeat in December 2020 – so they should be confident of securing all three points on Saturday.
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After claiming only five points from their opening eight league matches last season, Livingston fans would have been hoping that their side could start the new campaign in better fashion.
Although the Lions are not rooted to the foot of the table, as they were at this stage last season, they have fewer points this time around after losing six of their opening eight games.
David Martindale's side have failed to score in five of their last six matches across all competitions, with their only strike coming from Andrew Shinnie in their surprise 1-0 victory at home against Celtic last month.
In fact, Livingston travel to McDiarmid Park as the only Scottish Premiership team who are yet to score on the road so far this season. The Lions have lost three of their four away games, conceding eight goals in the process.
Martindale will be keen to see his team return to winning ways quickly, particularly against a St Johnstone side who have also struggled at times this campaign. A win for Livingston on Saturday would see them remain in 10th place, two points behind the Saints.
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Team News
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St Johnstone will be without full-back James Brown due to a hamstring injury, while Liam Gordon and Murray Davidson are suffering with knocks.
Right-back Shaun Rooney may start again as one of three central defenders alongside Efe Ambrose and Lars Dendoncker, which would likely see Michael O'Halloran operate again in the right wing-back role.
After scoring in their last game against Dundee, both Kane and May are expected to lead the line in attack, supported by David Wotherspoon in the number 10 role.
As for Livingston, Adam Lewis (broken foot), Craig Sibbald (leg) and Jaze Kabia (knee) are all ruled out with injuries.
Bruce Anderson, Jack Hamilton and Nicky Devlin all came on from the bench in the 1-0 defeat against St Mirren last time out, however all three could be handed starts ahead of Stephane Omeonga, Odin Bailey and Jack McMillan respectively.
St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Clark; Rooney, Ambrose, Dendoncker; O'Halloran, Crawford, Craig, Booth; Wotherspoon; Kane, May
Livingston possible starting lineup:
Stryjek; Devlin, Obileye, Fitzwater, Longridge; Holt, Penrice; Forrest, Shinnie, Hamilton; Anderson
We say: St Johnstone 2-0 Livingston
Both St Johnstone and Livingston will be keen to turn their fortunes around and will head into Saturday's game believing that this fixture is a winnable game.
However, we feel that the hosts look more of a threat in the final third and that should give them the edge to claim all three points at McDiarmid Park.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
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 St Johnstone win with a probability of 46.03%. A draw had a probability of 29.4% and a win for Livingston had a probability of 24.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a St Johnstone win was 1-0 with a probability of 15.75%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.78%) and 2-1 (8.05%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.96%), while for a Livingston win it was 0-1 (10.44%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 1.2% likelihood.
