Two teams aiming to bounce back from defeat in their last matches will come together on Sunday afternoon as St Johnstone host Hearts at McDiarmid Park in the Scottish Premiership.
The hosts are bottom of the league table with 21 points from 26 outings, while the visitors are ninth in the standings with 30 points from their 26 games played.
Match preview
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Since placing fifth in 2020-21, St Johnstone have consistently flirted with relegation from the Scottish Premiership in the subsequent seasons, placing 11th in 2021-22, ninth in 2022-23 and 10th in 2023-24.
The Saints are once again battling against relegation this term, but they appear to be losing the fight this time round, currently sat bottom of the Scottish Premiership with 21 points from 26 fixtures.
St Johnstone have managed just six wins, three draws and 17 defeats, leaving them six points behind Dundee in the relegation playoff place and a significant eight points behind 10th-placed Ross County.
Having secured just four victories in the 24 matches across all competitions since the start of the league season, Simo Valakari had appeared to turn their fortunes around as the Saints won four in a row.
However, they fell back into old habits in their most recent outing, suffering a 3-1 defeat to Kilmarnock, though the performance may give Valakari some encouragement heading into this one.
As for the visitors, Hearts endured a miserable opening to the campaign, crashing out of the Europa League in the qualifying playoff round and placed around the bottom of the league table.
The Jambos won only one of their first 12 matches across all competitions, a run that included the dismissal of Steven Naismith and appointment of Neil Critchley, and the new boss has had a brilliant impact on Hearts.
Critchley has won 11, drawn five and lost nine of his 25 games in charge at Hearts, including a particularly impressive run of just one defeat in 11 outings between December and February.
That streak came to a disappointing end as they suffered defeat to Rangers in their most recent clash, losing 3-1 to the Gers after Jamie McCart scored two own-goals, but they will be looking to rebound here.
Hearts have been extremely dominant against St Johnstone in recent history, avoiding defeat in all of the last eight meetings, securing eight victories in that time.
Team News
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St Johnstone will remain without Sam McClelland due to an Achilles tendon injury that has kept him out of the side since August, while Uche Ikpeazu will have to continue his wait for his first St Johnstone appearance due to an ongoing injury issue.
Despite losing 3-1 to Kilmarnock in their last outing, Valakari will be encouraged by aspects of their performance, particularly their dominance of possession, meaning the manager may name a similar team here.
As for Hearts, Craig Halkett (hamstring), Frankie Kent (muscle) and Stephen Kingsley (hamstring) are all unavailable for this encounter due to injury concerns.
Lawrence Shankland and 17-year-old star James Wilson are likely to continue in attack, with Kenneth Vargas likely to replace Elton Kabangu as the final of the three forwards.
St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Fisher; Balodis, Mikulic, Douglas; Curtis, Sprangler, Watt, Wright; Svedberg, Griffith; Kirk
Hearts possible starting lineup:
Gordon; Forrester, Steinwender, McCart, Penrice; Grant, Baningime, Spittal; Shankland; Vargas, Wilson
We say: St Johnstone 1-3 Hearts
While St Johnstone have been improved in recent weeks, Hearts are certainly the stronger side on paper, and given their impressive record in this fixture, we expect the visitors to win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
