Ross County shall continue the search for their first victory of the Scottish Premiership on Saturday when they welcome St Mirren to Victoria Park.
However, they will face a stern test from the visitors, who are currently undefeated in their last five matches.
Match preview
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The only thing keeping Ross County off the foot of the table is goal difference, as their -10 is currently slightly better than that of Dundee.
However, the season has proven to be a very difficult one for the Staggies, who have not won a single game in the league to this point, which is something they desperately need to fix.
With only three points in the opening eight fixtures, Malky Mackay is under increasing pressure to provide results if the club wants to avoid relegation.
Last season, only three points separated them and the bottom two, which proves just how vital one victory can be, and a win does have the potential to see them overtake Livingston this weekend.
The Staggies put up a strong effort against Dundee United in their most recent outing, suffering a narrow 1-0 loss, but defensively the squad have not been tight enough so far.
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Having conceded 16 goals already in this campaign, there is some serious improvement needed at the back if Ross County are going to fight for their survival.
St Mirren have not been one of the most prolific teams in the league as of yet, but they have scored six goals across their last three games, showcasing their attacking abilities.
They head into this match on the back of consecutive wins, with two performances that were very different, as the 3-2 victory against Aberdeen was far more frantic than the recent 1-0 over Livingston.
However, their ability to win in different ways is something that has served Jim Goodwin's team very well to this point, as they sit just outside of the top six.
The Buddies have the chance to possibly go level on points with Celtic this weekend, and that is something that they will be targeting as they face Ross County.
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Team News
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Mackay is likely to continue keeping his trust in the young players that he has picked throughout this season as he does not have any major injury problems to contend with at the moment.
However, he did switch to a back four against Dundee United, and while they still lost the game, his team only conceded once, which is why he might look to repeat the idea on Saturday.
Ethan Erhahon retained his place in the starting lineup for St Mirren against Livingston, and he rewarded his boss by scoring the match-winner, which will likely keep him in the team moving forwards.
The only major injury concern Goodwin has to deal with is with Greg Kiltie, who is unavailable at the moment due to a knee issue.
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Maynard-Brewer; Clarke, Baldwin, Lacovitti, Burroughs; Spittal, Paton, Tillson; Charles-Cook, Hungbo, Samuel
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Fraser, McCarthy, Shaughnessy; Millar, Power, Erhahon, Tanser; Ronan, McGrath; Brophy
We say: Ross County 0-3 St Mirren
Ross County have struggled so far this season and, currently, it is hard to see where their first victory would come from due to how they have been playing.
St Mirren will be hoping it is not them, and considering the strong performances that they have been putting in as of late, they should be expecting another three points this weekend.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a St Mirren win with a probability of 50.54%. A draw had a probability of 25% and a win for Ross County had a probability of 24.47%.
The most likely scoreline for a St Mirren win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.51%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.5%) and 0-2 (9.21%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.88%), while for a Ross County win it was 1-0 (7.44%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that St Mirren would win this match.
