St Mirren will welcome Dundee to the SMiSA Stadium on Wednesday for an important contest in the fight for top-half places in the Scottish Premiership table.
After a victory at the weekend, the hosts sit six points ahead of their sixth-placed visitors having played two matches more in Scotland's top flight.
Match preview
St Mirren head into the weekend aiming to crack the top four in the Scottish Premiership, having improved their standing with a return to winning ways at the weekend.
After enjoying an eye-catching start to the top-flight campaign, the Saints have failed to hit similar heights since the beginning of October, with their final 14 matches of 2023 producing just 14 points and three victories.
Stephen Robinson's side then faced a tough start to the New Year, with back-to-back meetings with title-chasing Celtic and Rangers ending in 3-0 and 1-0 defeats respectively, before they most recently set out to put their first points of 2024 on the board in a trip to Edinburgh to meet Hibernian.
The Paisley outfit would succeed in doing so in style, dishing out a 3-0 beating in the capital as Alex Gogic, Greg Kiltie and Mikael Mandron all netted goals in the first half in an impressive display.
Having now regained a degree of momentum with that return to winning ways on Saturday, and moved six points clear of their visitors and Hibernian in the fight for a top-half finish before the division splits, St Mirren will now bid to make it back-to-back league triumphs for the first time since September with the chance to leapfrog fourth-placed Kilmarnock.
Their opponents, meanwhile, will set out to narrow that gap after suffering a setback in the top-half battle at the weekend.
After winning promotion back to Scotland's top flight last time around, Dundee have enjoyed a creditable Premiership campaign thus far, currently occupying sixth spot with 26 points on the board from their first 22 matches.
A triumph over Ross County in mid-December took that tally to 21 points from 16 outings, but they have seen a slight dip in form amidst a tough run of fixtures since Christmas, firstly suffering defeats to league leaders Celtic and third-placed Hearts either side of a draw away at Kilmarnock.
Tony Docherty's side would then dish out a 4-1 beating away at basement side Livingston, before taking a point from a 1-1 draw away at Aberdeen thanks to Lee Ashcroft's leveller, and most recently meeting Hearts again and suffering another 3-2 defeat.
The Dee twice went ahead through Jordan McGhee and Lyall Cameron, but Alan Forrest and Lawrence Shankland drew the game level before the latter netted the decisive goal three minutes from time, and now sitting six points behind their fifth-placed hosts with two games in hand, they will set out to regain ground before playing their additional matches with a victory on their travels on Wednesday.
Team News
St Mirren should head into Wednesday's game with an unchanged starting XI from their 3-0 beating of Hibernian last time out, with Conor McMenamin, Mark O'Hara and Ryan Strain likely remaining sidelined by injuries.
In their 3-4-3 shape, the line will again be led by top scorer Mikael Mandron, who netted his seventh goal of the season at the weekend, with Greg Kiltie and James Scott bound to again join him up front.
Celtic loanee Kwon Hyeok-kyu should continue to join Caolan Boyd-Munce in midfield, while Alex Gogic is bound to again play at the heart of an unchanged back three alongside Marcus Fraser and James Bolton.
Dundee continue to deal with a long list of injuries, as Aaron Donnelly, Ryan Howley, Ricki Lamie, Diego Pineda, Juan Portales and Charlie Reilly remain confined to the treatment room.
After being reduced to a substitute appearance last time out, top scorer Zach Robinson will bid to return up front in their 5-3-2 shape from the outset, with fellow loanees Amadou Bakayoko and Michael Mellon having been preferred at the weekend.
Lyall Cameron, who netted his fourth goal of the season in their defeat to Hearts, will continue in a midfield trio, likely alongside Luke McCowan and Crystal Palace loanee Malachi Boateng, while Lee Ashcroft, Joe Shaughnessy and Owen Dodgson should again line up in the centre of a back five.
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Hemming; Bolton, Gogic, Fraser; Bwomono, Kwon, Boyd-Munce, Tanser; Scott, Mandron, Kiltie
Dundee possible starting lineup:
Carson; McGhee, Ashcroft, Shaughnessy, Dodgson, Beck; Cameron, Boateng, McCowan; Robinson, Bakayoko
We say: St Mirren 2-1 Dundee
The two teams boast similar levels of quality, and while St Mirren have failed to put a consistent run together since September, we fancy them to make it back-to-back triumphs on home turf following their confidence-boosting display at the weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
