"There are not too many teams who enjoy being relegated, enjoy being in a relegation battle so we go there expecting a really tough game.

"They have picked up five points in recent weeks and seemed to have turned a little corner so we have to be on our guard."

Kilmarnock are without a win in eight games in all competitions and sit fourth in the table ahead of fifth-placed Hearts on goal difference.

Former Chelsea and Scotland defender Clarke, who started his career at St Mirren, is looking for the goals to flow again after five matches without a counter.

The former West Brom boss said: "If you look at all the teams in that middle section, from ourselves down probably to (ninth-placed) Livingston, all those teams have shown that they are capable of going on good winning runs and also capable of going on runs where we don't pick up as many points as we would like.

"That is why it is so congested in there.

"But for us, the focus as always is on performance and try to get back to winning ways.

"It would help us if we scored a few more goals because goals have been in short supply recently so it would be helpful if we addressed that problem on Monday night."

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