Preview: Bohemians vs St Patrick's Athletic - prediction, team news, lineups

Anything other than a Bohemians victory against visitors St Patrick's Athletic on Friday at Dalymount Park could make qualifying for Europe in the League of Ireland a significant challenge.

Bohemians come into the clash in third place with 37 points, one fewer than second-placed St Patrick's Athletic, but they are also only two points ahead of fourth-placed Dundalk.

Match preview

The teams that finish second and third in the League of Ireland will be entered into the Conference League qualifiers, but Alan Reynolds's hosts have already played 23 of their 36 top-flight games this season, two more than Dundalk.

Bohemians bounced back from consecutive defeats by winning 3-0 against Shelbourne on Monday, and perhaps the most pleasing aspect of their triumph was the fact they did not face a single shot on target.

Bohs' record of late has still been concerning given they have lost three of their past five matches, conceding nine goals, and their clean sheet was their first in 14 performances.

Matters at the other end of the pitch have been more positive as they currently rank as the division's leading scorers (36), though their average of 1.6 goals per game is the same as Dundalk, and it is worse than St Patrick's Athletic's figure (1.7).

Dalymount Park has not proven to be a safe haven for Bohs, with the club having won just one of their eight most recent clashes at the ground, and a defeat on Friday would be their third consecutive loss at home.

St Patrick's Athletic left it late to claim victory over Sligo Rovers on June 19, finding the back of the net in the 93rd and 95th minutes to win 2-0.

The visitors will believe that they can challenge for the title considering they boast two games in hand on league leaders Shamrock Rovers, though having to overcome a six-point deficit could still be difficult.

Six of their last eight goals have now been scored after the half-time interval, and they have now kept two clean sheets in a row, as many as they had earned in their prior 12 fixtures.

Saints will look to extend their unbeaten streak against Friday's hosts to five games, and while a win would only be their second triumph in that time, they did emerge as 3-1 victors in April this year.

Manager Stephen Kenny will aim to arrest a stretch of four away games without winning, but it should be noted that they only lost once in that period and settled for stalemates on three occasions.

Bohemians League of Ireland Premier form:

St Patrick's Athletic League of Ireland Premier form:

Team News

With Bohemians finally keeping a clean sheet, there is no reason to doubt the inclusion of centre-backs Patrick Hickey and Sam Todd in front of goalkeeper Paul Walters this time around.

In the middle of the park, expect to see a double pivot of Dawson Devoy and Jordan Flores behind number 10 Ross Tierney, who scored against Shelbourne.

As for the visitors, winger Simon Power has been ruled out due to a knee injury, meaning the most likely duo to play on the flanks are Kian Leavy and Aidan Keena.

The two are set to be tasked with supporting number nine Ryan Edmondson, who is aiming to net his ninth league goal of the campaign.

Midfielders Jaime Lennon and Romal Palmer are likely to be positioned ahead of central defenders Joe Redmond, Sean Hoare and Luke Turner.

Bohemians possible starting lineup:

Walters; Power, Hickey, Todd, Mullen; Devoy, Flores; Strods, Tierney, Vaughan; Whelan

St Patrick's Athletic possible starting lineup:

Rogers; Redmond, Hoare, Turner; Brown, Lennon, Palmer, Elbouzedi; Leavy, Keena; Edmondson

We say: Bohemians 1-1 St Patrick's Athletic

Although Bohemians have struggled for some time, they did improve considerably when they faced Shelbourne.

St Patrick's Athletic boast a strong record against their opponents, so while they could encounter difficulties on Friday, they should have enough quality at both ends of the pitch to avoid losing.

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