Livingston are bottom of the Scottish Premiership. Their relegation odds of 11/8 underline a nightmare season that will culminate in March away games against Hibernian and Kilmarnock. Before placing your bets on the Lions' battle for survival, check out the review from Oddschecker.com for the BetMGM offer, which may be useful for key matches, such as the one against Hibs on the 14th of March. This game may be decisive for Livingston’s future.
Let’s see the reasons why Livingston is facing these hardships and what they can do to overcome them and stay in the top-flight.
A difficult season
It has been one of those years, so far, for David Martindale’s side. As a promoted team you always consider some difficulties and are typically prepared for a season in which you look back before than forward, but Livingston experienced more issues than a newly promoted team usually does. Everything started during the summer transfer window, when the team didn't make all the necessary adjustments. The same thing happened a couple of years ago, and the Lions finished that 2023-2024 season in last place.
Consistency is the usual illness for Livingston. The team could have enough talent to stay in the Premiership, but their players are not always focused as much as they should be. More often than not, the Lions lose matches they are expected to tie, if not win, and they can’t defend Almondvale as they should. The quest is obviously not over, since we are still only in February, but things must change, fast, and the team must start to win its key games.
The matches Livingston can’t afford to lose
Livingston won only a game in this year’s Premiership and put together the misery of 12 points in 27 games, as the league table says. You can’t achieve much success with this going. After a difficult game against Rangers, Livingston squares off against St.Mirren, on February 28, at Almondvale. It is a winnable match and could give the Lions the edge they need. When you win, winning becomes easier. In order to survive the team needs a lot of points and they need to start accumulating them.
The upcoming matches against Kilmarnock and Dundee are essential to bridging the gap in the bottom half of the table. Winning those awards more than 3 points, because you make some while your direct rivals lose some of theirs. At this point of the season, good performances are not enough anymore. It has to be a must-win mentality for Livingston, each and every game, starting with the ones they’ll play at home. In a late-December interview with the BBC, Martindale said he thinks his team should have made more points. This is probably still his idea, but now the time has come to show that Livingston is indeed better of its table position. The Lions’ time is running out.
A showdown in Edinburgh?
The game against Hibernian, at Easter Road, is circled in red on Livingston’s calendars because it is played on the 30th gameday. There will be only 3 matches after that and the Lions could already be aware of their future by that day. To get there with hope is the objective and, in order to do so, Livingston must start to find some points: tying games won’t suffice, the Lions have to find a way to win their fixtures. Will they be able to do so? In West Lothian they sure hope so.
While we write this, Livingston is on a terrible streak. The team got only 1 point in the last 5 matches and is moving towards an ugly finish of its season. Probably, the players need a psychological reset. There are some teams stronger than them, of course, and this is the reason why they lost all these games, but this is the Premiership and you must always stay on top of your game, if you want to have a chance of playing here again next year.