The match week 27 of the Scottish Premiership sees Aberdeen square off against Livingston at the Pittodrie Stadium on Saturday. Both teams are neck-and-neck in mid-table, separated by only three points. Livingston are sixth with 35 points, whereas Aberdeen sits seventh with 32 points. Both teams will be keen to play for maximum points and improve on their current positions.
Aberdeen have won ten, drawn two, and lost 14 matches each thus far. The home side has scored 39 goals while averaging 1.4 xG per match. They have conceded 51 goals, averaging an xGA rate of 2.07, which makes it the worst defensive record at the moment. Aberdeen have struggled in their recent matches, losing four out of the last five and winning only once.
Livingston, on the other hand, have won ten, drawn five, and lost ten out of 26 matches. They have scored 27 goals and conceded 37 in total. The average xG rate of the team is 1.1, while their average xGA rate is 1.79. They have shown better form compared to the hosts, with two wins and two losses in their last five fixtures. Below are some additional stats looking at the performances of both teams in the current season.
Overall performance of the teams
The above viz shows the percentile rank of both teams compared with each other as well as with other teams in the Scottish Premiership. Under most of the indicators, Aberdeen have a higher percentile rank compared to Livingston. A couple of areas where the visitors have a better or equal ranking are xGA, opposition xG per shot, and penalty area entries.
Despite Aberdeen having a higher percentile rank in the metrics, they are still ranked below the visitors in the league. One reason for this is their poor defensive displays and their struggles to find a consistent run of positive results in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, Livingston have a more balanced record between the two teams. While they don’t score many goals, their defence doesn’t concede too many either. The hosts will look to turn around their form in this fixture and decrease the gap in the league standings, while the visitors will be motivated to not let the opponent have this opportunity.
xG per shot, positional attacks, and penalty area entries
Aberdeen are the more efficient side when it comes to the attacking department. In terms of the efficiency of positional plays, they are among the averagely ranked teams. The hosts launch 24.73 positional attacks per match, with 25% of such plays leading to shots. They have done reasonably well going forward but have been exposed defensively in some of the recent matches.
Meanwhile, Livingston creates 23.84 positional attacks per match, with 21.5% leading to shots. They are the lowest-ranked team in terms of the efficiency of positional plays. At home, we can expect Aberdeen to take a more offensive approach in this match, with Livingston sitting back and keeping their backline compact.
Aberdeen takes 10.77 shots per match with an accuracy rate of 34.6%. Alternatively, Livingston takes 8.52 shots per match and has an accuracy rate of 39%. The above viz shows the closeness of the rankings of both teams in terms of xG per shot. Both teams have an equal xG per shot of 0.15, which is better than the numbers registered by most of the other teams.
The above viz compares the upcoming opponents in terms of entries to the opposition penalty area per 90 minutes. Once again, the two teams are ranked neck-and-neck in this department, although both of them rank low on the list. Aberdeen makes 13 entries to the opposition’s penalty box per 90 minutes, compared to the 12 such entries made by Livingston on average.
Key players
Bojan Miovski has proven to be a leading figure on Aberdeen’s front line. With 14 goals, he has been one of the team’s most important contributors, placing him third on the scoring charts. The North Macedonia international is his team’s main man in the opposition penalty box and can also shoot accurately from long range. If Livingston’s defenders can contain Miovski in this matchup, they will nullify a significant amount of Aberdeen’s offensive threat.
Team news
Both Aberdeen and Livingston are expected to be at full strength, with only Connor Barron missing for the hosts due to injury. The teams should be able to name their strongest line-ups featuring their first-choice players in a tightly contested encounter.
Aberdeen vs. Livingston is going to be one of the important fixtures in the Scottish Premiership over the weekend. The hosts will be eager to collect maximum points at home and leave behind their poor run of form. Livingston, on the other hand, will look to not allow their opponent to leap over them in the league standings.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
