Nicky Devlin expects battling St Johnstone to throw everything at Livingston

Nicky Devlin expects St Johnstone to “throw everything” at Livingston on Saturday in their bid to get away from the cinch Premiership relegation zone.

With two fixtures remaining before the split – and seven left in total – the Perth club are in the relegation play-off spot, four points ahead of bottom side Dundee and eight behind 10th-place Aberdeen.

Lions captain Devlin noted that St Johnstone have lost only two of their last six games and believes Callum Davidson’s side will be going all out for three crucial points at McDiarmid Park.

The 28-year-old right-back said: “They are under pressure but from what I have seen in recent weeks, especially at home, they are going for games now.

“They are obviously trying to win games but they are throwing everything at it now which you expect from teams who are down there, they are sitting second-bottom just now.

“So they are going for it in games now which will make it quite interesting on Saturday.”

Sixth-placed Livingston are behind Hibernian on goal difference, one point ahead of Ross County, Motherwell and St Mirren and two points ahead of Aberdeen.

While Devlin is focusing on a third-successive top-half finish, he remains just a little wary.

The former Ayr United and Walsall player said: “There are probably two different types of pressure going into this stage of the season.

“For us, it’s a good pressure because we have put ourselves in a position where we can challenge for the better stuff in the league.

“Whereas if you are down the bottom it is a completely different pressure you are under. That is real pressure, if you know what I mean.

“It is good to be challenging up the top end for the better things but we are under no illusions, we are (two) points off 10th so we can still be dragged into it, if after the split you are playing the five teams down at the bottom who are all fighting for their lives. It could be a difficult end to the season.”