Aberdeen and St Johnstone come together on Saturday afternoon at Pittodrie with both teams looking to ensure their survival in the Scottish Premiership before the end of the season.
The hosts come into this match on the back of five league games without defeat, while the visitors have lost four of their last five.
Match preview
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Aberdeen have had an extremely difficult time this season, going through three managers and falling from a third-place finish last year to now fighting for their safety in the top flight.
Peter Leven, who has taken charge of the side on two interim spells this term, has managed to coach the hosts to a recent upturn in form that has seen them win three and draw two of their last five league matches, pulling them closer to safety.
That run has coincided with an improvement in their defensive performances that has seen them keep four clean sheets out of the last five league games, an impressive feat after managing just four in the previous 29.
Aberdeen now sit eight points above Ross County, who reside in the relegation playoff spot, and will be hoping to extend that gap with a first victory against St Johnstone since April 2023.
As for the visitors, they are just a point better off than Ross County, leaving them desperately fighting for points in an attempt to avoid playing in a second relegation playoff in three years.
St Johnstone come into this one having won just once in their last six matches, losing four in that time, but they have managed to pick up three victories from their past six outings on the road.
Craig Levein will be aiming to repeat the 2-0 success they had over Saturday's opponents in their last visit to Pittodrie in February and the Saints may fancy themselves having avoided defeat in this fixture for over a year.
Ross County are set to play against Hibernian, who sit at the top of the relegation group, meaning this is the perfect opportunity for the visitors to create some distance between themselves and the bottom two.
Team News
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Captain Graeme Shinnie could make a return for Aberdeen in this one after serving his suspension in his side's 1-0 victory over Motherwell last weekend.
An injury to Jack Mackenzie in that win leaves him as a doubt for this one with Richard Jensen, who came on in place of the defender, likely to step into the team.
Aberdeen will be looking to star striker Bojan Miovski to provide the goals, with the striker currently on 24 for the season.
As for St Johnstone, they are set to be without up to three players due to injury for this crucial match.
Diallang Jaiyesimi remains as a doubt after suffering a knee injury at the beginning of March, while Ross Sinclair is also set to continue on the sidelines.
Sven Sprangler is expected to be unavailable for the remainder of the season after sustaining an injury in the loss to Celtic in March.
Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Roos; Devlin, Gartenmann, MacDonald, Jensen; Barron, Shinnie; McGrath, Clarkson, Hoilett; Miovski
St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Mitov; McGowan, Gordon, Considine; Phillips; Franczak, Smith, Carey, Robinson; Mbunga-Kimpioka, Clark
We say: Aberdeen 2-0 St Johnstone
The hosts have seen a major improvement in performances and results over the past weeks, securing vital points while keeping impressive clean sheets, and that has been even more apparent in their home fixtures.
They have lost just two of their last 11 games in front of their own crowd, with one of those being a penalty defeat to Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final, and we believe that positive run will continue with a victory here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
