Dundee United welcome Scottish Premiership form side Livingston to Tannadice this Saturday afternoon for what should be an interesting encounter.
Livi's long unbeaten run finally came to an end in midweek, and it will be interesting to see how David Martindale's team react to the first real setback of the manager's reign.
Match preview
© Reuters
Micky Mellon's Dundee United team have surrendered their sixth place in the table to St Mirren over the last month or so, and were also hammered 5-1 at home by the Paisley outfit in January.
That defeat was the first in a three-game run of losses that included a 2-0 reverse at Hibernian and a 2-1 home defeat to Motherwell.
Mellon's men brought that depressing run to an end with a 2-0 win at Ross County last Saturday, and the Tangerines manager was delighted with the return to form of United's Scotland international striker Lawrence Shankland.
Shankland scored his team's first goal against County just after the hour mark, finishing off a fine team move.
Mellon also praised Shankland's strike partner Marc McNulty for his part in ending an eight-game winless run for the Arabs.
The United manager is hoping now that his team can build on that victory and find the consistency that has eluded them in recent weeks.
The Terrors will need to tighten up at the back too, as they have conceded at least two goals in their last three home league matches.
© Reuters
Livingston now need to regroup after their 14-match unbeaten run finally came to an end in midweek when the Lions lost 2-1 at home to St Johnstone.
A top-half finish now looks achievable for the West Lothian outfit, with Martindale's team in fifth place in the table, seven points clear of sixth-placed St Mirren.
Given Aberdeen's recent struggles, a European place is not out of the question either, with Livi now five points behind the fourth-placed Dons.
The team have also managed to pick up some individual honours, with Martindale receiving the Premiership's Manager of the Month award for January after also winning it in December.
Livi forward Scott Robinson, out of contract at the club in the summer, picked up the Player of the Month award, and his manager is keen to reward his progress with an improved contract at the end of the season.
Whether Martindale can offer an improved deal is in big part dependent on how high Livi can finish in the league table, so Robinson will be keen to continue his fine form this weekend.
The Lions have won five of their last six away league games, and have also scored at least twice in five of those games.
Dundee United Scottish Premiership form: DDLLLW
Livingston Scottish Premiership form: DDWDWL
Livingston form (all competitions): DWWDWL
Team News
© Reuters
Dundee United are still without Declan Glass, whose ACL injury is set to keep him sidelined for the rest of the season.
Logan Chalmers is also still out with an ankle problem, but Mellon's main selection dilemma for Saturday is what combination of strikers to pick.
McNulty and Shankland combined impressively in the Terrors' last outing, but Mellon still has further options in the shape of Nicky Clark and Louis Appere.
Gavin Reilly will be missing for Livingston after testing positive for COVID-19, and Keaghan Jacobs (foot) and Alan Lithgow (hip) are still absent but set to return to action soon.
Dundee United possible starting lineup:
Siegrist; Smith, Edwards, Reynolds, Robson; Pawlett, Butcher, Fuchs, Sporle; Shankland, McNulty
Livingston possible starting lineup:
Stryjek; Devlin, Ambrose, Taylor-Sinclair; Longridge; Bartley, Holt; Lawson, Pittman, Forrest; Robinson
We say: Dundee United 1-2 Livingston
Livi will bounce back from defeat with a narrow and hard-fought win at Tannadice over the Terrors.
The Lions have too much overall quality and confidence for United to cope with, and will head back to West Lothian on Saturday evening with all three points.
Top betting 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 Livingston win with a probability of 50.75%. A draw had a probability of 25.3% and a win for Dundee United had a probability of 23.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Livingston win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.16%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.52%) and 1-2 (9.42%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.03%), while for a Dundee United win it was 1-0 (7.68%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 1.3% likelihood.
