League first at Livi for a grateful Saint

St Johnstone midfielder Murray Davidson has a lot to thank Livingston for but he is ready for a sleeves-rolled-up battle with his former club in West Lothian tonight.

Davidson was given a career start by the Lions and tonight plays his first league game against them since leaving a decade ago.

It is a fixture he didn’t envisage taking place in this season’s Premiership.

“He said: “Obviously Livingston have had a few money problems in the last few years and went down to League 1.

“Even last year when they were pushing for the play-offs, everyone thought it would be tough for them to get promoted. They did it the hard way and it was fully deserved.

“Since they’ve come up they’ve been excellent. I don’t think even they could have imagined they would get off to such a good start.

“We played them in a cup game here – it was the year we won the Scottish Cup. There was a pre-season friendly there a couple of years as well but I’ve never faced them in a league game.”

Davidson goes into the game with some fondness but he won’t be holding back against his former club .

He added: “They’ve been brilliant and I’m delighted to see them back because that’s where it all started for me.

“Hopefully their good run comes to an end against us, though.”

Livingston are expected to be without Ryan Hardie again when they face the Saints at Almondvale.

The on-loan Rangers forward has an ankle problem.

Former Aberdeen forward Lee Miller and ex-Ross County winger Raffaele de Vita remain out with long-term knee injuries. Brendan Rodgers offered Scotland boss Alex McLeish no encouragement by confirming Leigh Griffiths remains unavailable for Celtic.

The Hoops striker has not played since the 6-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park earlier in the month and pulled out of the last Scotland squad for fitness reasons, with a calf injury being a recent concern.

Hearts and Scotland were dealt a blow when striker Steven Naismith was ruled out of the Scots’ forthcoming Nations League deciders against Albania and Israel after being told he needs knee surgery.

Ahead of the trip to bottom side Dundee in the Premiership tonight, Celtic boss Rodgers was asked about the prospects of Griffiths being able to fill that gap when McLeish names his squad early next week.

He said: “I’m not sure at this moment, we just take it day by day.

“It’s a blow, Steven Naismith being out for Scotland and for Hearts but we just need to assess that.

“There is not a lot of time, that’s the only thing I would say. Certainly if he were available he would be nowhere near match-fit but we will see over the next few weeks where Leigh is at.

“He was here today, he was in the treatment room with the medical team.

“We have 10 injuries so our medical team are working hard with the players to get them back but there is no timeline on it.”

Meanwhile, Glen Kamara believes struggling Dundee, who have lost their last six home games, can upset the odds and beat Celtic at Dens.

The 22-year-old Finland midfielder said: “Celtic is a tough game but we have a good bunch of boys in there and if everyone pulls together and we get firing on all cylinders I think we can do it.”