Preview: St Mirren vs. Celtic

St Mirren and Celtic couldn't have endured more contrasting campaigns, but when the two teams meet at St Mirren Park on Friday evening, one of them will be move closer to securing their target at either end of the table.

Celtic are in the driving seat as far as the Scottish Premiership title is concerned and even a defeat wouldn't harm their ambitions, but St Mirren need points on the board in order to avoid relegation from the top tier of Scottish football.

St Mirren

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After finishing in eighth position last season, St Mirren would have had high hopes of continuing their progression with a top-six finish, but this campaign has turned into a nightmare for the Buddies.

For a team of their standing, five wins on the road is respectable, but just one victory at St Mirren Park - which came in their last home fixture against Hamilton Academical - has left them four points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Manager Gary Teale would jump at the chance to compete in a playoff fixture to try to maintain their top-flight status, but they must overturn a run of form that has seen them lose four of their last five games where just two goals have been netted.

Unless they can keep a clean sheet against the league leaders, St Mirren need to score at least two goals in the game, something which has only been achieved once since the turn of the year.

However, at the other end of the pitch, only Aberdeen have managed to score three times past St Mirren in 14 matches, a statistic that may give them belief heading into Friday's game.

Recent form: WLLWLL

Celtic

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Ever since the demise of Old Firm rivals Rangers, much of Celtic's hard work in the league is usually done at this stage of the season, and it's no different this year.

Aberdeen are fighting valiantly in an attempt to keep pace with Celtic, but the Glasgow giants possess a five-point advantage with a game in hand and it will be tough for the Dons to catch Ronny Deila's men.

A strange run of encounters has seen Celtic play Dundee United four times in a row in the league and two cup competitions, but they have prevailed in all three situations, including winning the League Cup and earning a 3-0 success in their last league outing.

Deila is likely to welcome the change of scenery as they target a domestic treble, but the Norwegian will be eager to avoid complacency after St Johnstone recently proved that they can still be beaten.

However, the club have only conceded two goals in their last six games, with three successive clean sheets being registered, and unless they drastically underperform against their struggling opponents, it's unlikely that their recent record will come to an end.

Recent form: WWWWLW Recent form (all competitions): WLDWWW

Team News

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Eighteen-year-old Lewis McLear is expected to remain on the substitutes' bench for St Mirren, despite committing his immediate future to the club by penning a new three-year contract.

However, with the team struggling for goals, Teale could make alterations in his attack, with Yoann Arquin in contention to come into the side as he continues to search for his first strike since joining from Ross County in January.

As for Celtic, Jason Denayer and Nir Bitton will both be assessed on Thursday when returning from international duty with Belgium and Israel respectively.

Liam Henderson is out of the reckoning after departing the club to join Rosenborg on loan for the rest of the season, but John Guidetti is likely to keep his place after netting in the last match before the break.

St Mirren possible starting lineup: Ridgers, Naismith, Goodwin, Genev, Tesselaar, Arquin, Mallan, McGinn, Kelly, Thompson, Gow

Celtic possible starting lineup Gordon, Ambrose Emuobo, Denayer, van Dijk, Izaguirre, Bitton, Brown, Mackay-Steven, Johansen, Armstrong, Guidetti

Head To Head

The last fixture between the two sides at St Mirren Park came all the way back in September when two goals from Guidetti proved enough to earn a valuable 2-1 win.

That result came at a time when Deila was struggling to get the best out of his side, but it was a different story in December when St Mirren made the trip to Celtic Park.

The visitors had their moments, equalising during the early stages to keep Celtic honest, but the home side eventually came through with a 4-1 triumph, with Scott Brown netting two of the goals.

© Sports Mole / SM

We say: St Mirren 0-3 Celtic

Given the contrasting form of the two sides, we have no option but to predict a routine victory for Celtic. If St Mirren can start well, they could potentially trouble the leaders but if they allow Celtic to stamp their authority on the match, it could be a long 90 minutes for the hosts.