How clinical Celtic left Livingston looking toothless

Goals from Greg Taylor, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi accounted for David Martindale's Livi, who came into the match on an impressive six-game undefeated streak of their own.

The result ensured Ange Postecoglou and co. remain nine points clear of Rangers at the SPFL Premiership summit with 24 matches played apiece.

Postecoglou made just two changes to his starting XI for the visit of the Lions, with Maeda and Matt O'Riley coming in for Liel Abada and Aaron Mooy respectively.

Here, The Celtic Way rounds up the best StatsBomb data from the game to give you a match report like no other...

xG/trendline

Celtic created the first chance of the match, had the 'best' one statistically and scored all three of their goals in the opening 45 yet, in terms of cumulative xG, there was very little between their creative output in either half (0.57 vs 0.53).

Livingston managed to manufacture six chances in the first half but were largely unable to keep pace with Celtic in quality, as the trendline reflects.

Statistically, Kyogo's goal in first-half injury time was the game's best chance at 0.29 xG. Maeda's miss on the hour mark followed at 0.20 while Andrew Shinnie's 37th-minute effort (0.18) was third best overall and Livi's only quality chance.

StatsBomb notes that the final cumulative xG totals stood at 1.10-0.34 in Celtic's favour, reinforcing a clinical display in that the champions scored thrice. The Lions are given just an 11 per cent chance of victory based on the chances each team created.

Shots

The champions generated 15 shots in total, scoring four from the five they got on target. Five missed and five were blocked with Shamal George making two saves.

Celtic managed to create six chances in close, central areas including two of the three goals. Two chances were mid-to-high-quality xG.

Thirteen of their 15 attempts came from open play with one via a direct free-kick and the other from a  corner.

Livi's shot map includes seven attempts with only Shinnie's of mid-to-high-quality. That was one of two they generated in close, central areas. 

The Lions got no shots on target, missed three and saw four blocked. As a result, Joe Hart made no saves.

In terms of individuals, the two most prolific were Kyogo and Maeda with three apiece. The former shaded it when it came to the accompanying xG his trio of attempts carried (0.42 vs 0.28).

Livi's Scott Pittman, Bruce Anderson and Shinnie all managed two efforts alongside Celtic substitute Abada and left-back Taylor.

Passing, possession & positions

Celtic enjoyed 80 per cent possession and completed 676 of 784 pass attempts for an 83 per cent success rate. The Lions, meanwhile, mustered 89 completed passes from 197 attempts (a poor 45 per cent success rate).

The pass network below gives a sense of where the game was played and who was most involved. The warmer the colour the more influential the player, while the thicker the passing lines the more passes between the players.

StatsBomb measures pass contributions in on-ball value (often referred to as OBV, a term breakdown can be read here).

Carl Starfelt, Jota and Maeda's influence on proceedings are clear from the map due to their deep red nodes while the team shape in general is a reflection of a stereotypical Celtic domestic match; Hart and the two centre-backs are in their own half with the rest in the opposition's. 

This resembles a rough 2-3-4-1 with the full-backs pushed into midfield alongside McGregor and the two more attacking midfielders - Hatate and O'Riley - occupying advanced positions and Kyogo providing the focal point.

READ MORE: Tony Haggerty's detailed Celtic player ratings from the 3-0 win over Livingston

Maeda, on the left wing, was the standout player in terms of OBV. He returned an OBV rating more than double that of Livi's best performer - which, also in typical domestic fashion, was the keeper George - while there were also notable displays from Jota, Starfelt, Taylor and Kyogo.

Taylor took the most touches (276), was part of three of the top four passing combinations and third in the xGChain behind O'Riley and Maeda.

The visitors' pass network reflects their fairly rigid 3-4-1-2 / 3-5-2 system. Despite conceding three goals, the Livi goalkeeper and two of the three centre-backs returned positive OBV figures. Conversely, only one attack-minded player - midfielder Jason Holt - could say the same.

Eight different Celts played at least one key pass throughout the match. Three of those were substitutes; Aaron Mooy, who matched starters Jota and O'Riley with two,  as well as David Turnbull and Tomoki Iwata.

O'Riley shaded Jota for the highest accompanying xG Assisted from his two key passes with 0.33 vs 0.30.

Pressing and defending

Celtic made 83 - almost exactly 100 fewer than Livi's 182. The champions did, however, make more pressure regains (23 vs 20). The most intense battlegrounds were on Celtic's left flank and across the edge of the Livingston box.

Pittman and Holt were the game's most persistent pressers with 28 and 26 respectively.  Stephane Omeonga also topped 20.

Maeda was leading Celt with 14 - and led all his team-mates in total pressing duration too - while Callum McGregor was the only other home player to reach double figures.  

Pittman and Shinnie led the charts in counter-pressing with four with Maeda one further back. The Japanese forward was the match leader for total counter-pressing duration.

Daizen Maeda's defensive actions and pressure map vs Livingston (Image: StatsBomb)

In the traditional defensive metrics what is most notable is perhaps what didn't happen. Neither Celtic centre-back made a tackle or an interception between them. Starfelt did not make a clearance either but won six of eight aerial contests. Carter-Vickers, meanwhile, racked up four clearances and won all six of his aerial duels.

Elsewhere, substitute Turnbull showed up well in his cameo with three tackles, one interception, an aerial win and not being dribbled past. Alistair Johnston's seven aerial wins from seven aerial duels was a match-high.