Gameweek 20 in the Scottish Premiership will see St Mirren taking on Kilmarnock in a top-half battle at the Smisa Stadium on Wednesday evening.
These two swapped positions in the league standings last weekend, with the hosts slipping to fifth while the visitors moved up to fourth with 27 points after 19 games and just one point ahead of their opponents.
Match preview
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St Mirren were beaten 2-0 at this venue the last time these two met here, and they will see this as the perfect opportunity to avenge that result, as it will also see them regain their two-point advantage over Killie.
However, doing that will require the hosts to snap up a two-game slump, which included a stalemate at home to a struggling Motherwell and a 2-0 loss to Hearts over the weekend.
That last result marked the Buddies and the Saints' 21st consecutive match that they failed to win after conceding the first goal, which is a record that dates back to December 24 last year.
Stephen Robinson's side have been particularly vulnerable leading up to the interval in matches and have conceded four times in the 15 minutes before the break this season, which is the second-most behind their opponents in this match (5).
The hosts have now lost four of their last six league matches, but their major issue has undoubtedly been their attacking output recently, as they failed to score in five of the matches over this period.
Still, most of those issues stem from their away performances, but at home, St Mirren are unbeaten in their last five, including three wins and two draws, while they have shut out opponents in four of those games.
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Meanwhile, Kilmarnock will come into this match with all the momentum and bags of confidence after securing a 2-1 win over St. Johnstone over the weekend, marking their fourth consecutive unbeaten result.
David Watson gave his side the lead inside the opening 10 minutes of the match, and Marley Watkins doubled their advantage at the 17-minute mark, while Danny Armstrong took the lead in the side for the most assists this season (7) after setting up both goals.
That result also brought the Killie's level with their joint-longest unbeaten streak in the Scottish Premiership, marking the first time they have gone four matches unbeaten since the period between May 24 and August 13 this year.
However, despite their solid run of form, Derek McInnes's side have found wins hard to come by on the road this season, winning only once in nine outings while failing to score in three of their last four.
Barring last season's victory for Kilmarnock at this venue, five of the last six encounters between these sides have ended level in regulation time, and the visitors would arguably be the happier of the two with a share of the spoils in this one.
Team News
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St Mirren have had to make do without Jonah Ayunga so far this season, and the centre-forward could miss the remainder of the campaign as well owing to a cruciate ligament tear.
Ryan Strain and Ryan Flynn are ruled out with a groin and hamstring injury, respectively, while Caolan Boyd-Munce is a doubt and was not part of the squad for last week's defeat against Hearts.
For the visitors, Innes Cameron is the only confirmed absentee for this match as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury that has seen him feature only once so far this season.
Kyle Magennis's fitness has been questionable of late, and he was left out of the matchday squad against St Johnstone, perhaps confirming he is not 100% right now, which should mean that Kyle Vassell will continue alongside Watkins in the attack.
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Hemming; Fraser, Gogic, Taylor; Small, Kiltie, O'Hara, Baccus, Tanser; Ayunga, Greive
Kilmarnock possible starting lineup:
Dennis; Mayo, Deas, Findlay; Armstrong, Polworth, Watson, Lyons, Ndaba; Vassell, Watkins
We say: St Mirren 1-1 Kilmarnock
While St Mirren have seen a drop-off in performance lately, they have maintained a very good home record this season. The visitors, in contrast, have been good recently, but their away form has been far from impressive. This looks like a very even contest in the making, and we feel there will be nothing to split these sides at the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
