Celtic travel to Livingston this Sunday and will be keen to maintain their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
Brendan Rodgers’ men sit one point ahead of Rangers at the summit and could put themselves in pole position ahead of the Glasgow Derby by claiming three points against David Martindale’s outfit.
In our three meetings with the Lions this term, Celtic have prevailed. Nevertheless, there were some uncomfortable moments in our 4-2 victory a couple of weeks ago, where late goals from Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi sealed our passage to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Livingston come into this one without a win in five matches, though Rodgers and company will be all too aware of the threat they pose on their much-maligned artificial surface.
Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Liam Scales could all return to contention for the tie, which fans without tickets can take in live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football, with pre-match build-up commenting from 11 am [Sky Sports].
Kick-off is at 12 noon, setting the scene for a day where Celtic have little margin for error in their battle for the title.
Don Robertson appointed referee for Livingston vs Celtic
The headline to emerge ahead of Livingston vs Celtic is the news that Don Robertson has been appointed to referee the affair despite his involvement in our controversial 2-0 defeat away to Heart of Midlothian at Tynecastle earlier this month [Scottish FA official website].
Hyunjun Yang received a red card for a high challenge on Alex Cochrane, though only after Robertson upgraded the decision to a straight dismissal in the wake of an intervention from VAR.
Tomoki Iwata was also penalised for a handball offence in bizarre circumstances that allowed Hearts to open the scoring, which the 37-year-old awarded after consultation with John Beaton, not to go over old ground too much.
Graeme Stewart and Andy Milne will run either line; meanwhile, Euan Anderson is the fourth official on this occasion. VAR is set to be controlled by Alan Muir and Graeme Leslie in case any incidents require further observation.
In a week where Celtic manager Rodgers finds himself in the dock for an SFA charge amid his comments on the officiating in the capital, let’s hope the football will be the main talking point at the Tony Macaroni Arena.