Preview: Celtic vs. Livingston - prediction, team news, lineups

The hosts have seen off Buckie Thistle and St Mirren thus far in their bid to retain the title, while their visitors have narrowly got the better of Raith Rovers and Partick Thistle to reach the final eight.

Match preview

Celtic head into Sunday's Scottish Cup tie on home turf aiming to take a step closer to winning the trophy for 42nd time in their history, having prevailed over Inverness Caledonian Thistle in last year's final thanks to goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Liel Abada and Jota.

Their latest campaign began at home to fifth-tier Buckie Thistle in the fourth round in January, and Brendan Rodgers's side progressed without any fuss as Paulo Bernardo, Odin Thiago Holm, Furuhashi, Luis Palma and Rocco Vata got on the scoresheet in a 5-0 triumph, booking a tougher test against St Mirren in the round of 16 as a result.

In that trip to Paisley last month, the Bhoys would again come out on top and keep a clean sheet to advance to the quarter-finals, with Furuhashi again on the scoresheet in the first half before Daizen Maeda wrapped up a 2-0 victory soon after the interval.

Rodgers's men now return to cup action on the back of a tough run of league form, having lost top spot to Old Firm rivals Rangers in recent weeks in their defence of the Scottish Premiership title, now sitting second with a two-point gap to the summit having most recently taken on Hearts in Edinburgh last weekend and suffered a 2-0 defeat with Jorge Grant and Lawrence Shankland finding the net for the hosts either side of the break.

Having fallen out of contention in the Scottish League Cup and their continental pursuits and given up pole position in the Premiership title race, Celtic will arguably now place more importance on the Scottish Cup and one of two remaining chances to secure silverware this term, and they will set out to prevail on home turf and move within two games of glory on Sunday.

Their visitors, meanwhile, travel to Celtic Park aiming to pull off a major upset against last season's treble-winners and advance to the semi-finals in the midst of what has been a difficult campaign.

After 29 league outings, Livingston currently find themselves rooted to the foot of the Scottish Premiership table with just 17 points on the board, with their run to the final eight of the Scottish arguably being the only shining light of their season, albeit not in convincing fashion thus far.

The Lions began at home to second-tier Raith Rovers in the fourth round in January, and they scraped through with a 2-1 victory, coming from behind thanks to goals from Jamie Brandon and Daniel MacKay, before travelling to Partick Thistle for a round-of-16 tie last time around.

David Martindale's side required extra time to prevail in that tie, coming from 2-0 down in normal time to draw 2-2 thanks to Joel Nouble's brace, before Tete Yengi decided the contest with his side's third goal at the end of the additional 30 minutes.

With spirits bound to be low in the camp, having failed to build a survival bid on the back of a league victory over St Mirren in February, going on to suffer defeats to Ross County and Motherwell and play out a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone last weekend, Livingston will turn their focus back to the Scottish Cup and bid to knock out the defending champions and advance to the final four on Sunday.

Celtic Scottish Cup form:

W

W

Celtic form (all competitions):

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W

D

W

W

L

Livingston Scottish Cup form:

W

W

Livingston form (all competitions):

L

W

W

L

L

D

Team News

Celtic head into Sunday's cup tie without winger Hyun-Jun Yang, after their appeal against his red card against Hearts last time out was dismissed, while Maik Nawrocki, Reo Hatate and James McCarthy are set to continue spells in the treatment room with captain Callum McGregor also set to miss out after being sidelined for the Hearts game.

Brendan Rodgers fielded full-strength starting XIs for the Bhoys' first two Scottish Cup matches this term, and we should see the same at the weekend with Paulo Bernardo, Tomoki Iwata and Matt O'Riley lining up in a midfield trio in Hatate and McGregor's absence, while Liam Scales should again join Cameron Carter-Vickers at the heart of the defence.

Adam Idah will likely continue to lead the line, having netted five goals in seven appearances for the club since arriving on loan from Norwich City in January, while Nicolas Kuhn, Luis Palma and Kyogo Furuhashi will all fight for a starting berth in a front three after settling for places on the bench last time out.

David Martindale should avoid making many changes to his Livingston starting XI from their 1-1 draw with St Johnstone last weekend, although Bruce Anderson and Joel Nouble will both fight to come in up front after Tete Yengi led the line in that game.

Anderson leads the squad's scoring charts with eight goals across all competitions so far this term, while Andrew Shinnie will operate in the centre of a supporting trio behind whichever lone front man is preferred after netting his second goal of the season against St Johnstone.

Behind them, Jason Holt and David Carson will continue their partnership at the base of the midfield, while Michael Devlin and Ayo Obileye should again feature in the middle of the defence.

Celtic possible starting lineup:

Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; O'Riley, Iwata, Bernardo; Furuhashi, Idah, Maeda

Livingston possible starting lineup:

George; Nottingham, Obileye, Devlin, Kelly; Holt, Carson; Mackay, Shinnie, Montano; Yengi

We say: Celtic 3-0 Livingston

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