St Johnstone will host Ross County in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday afternoon hoping to secure their 10th league victory of the campaign.
Both teams head into this clash after facing Hibernian in their last league fixture, with the hosts narrowly beating the Edinburgh outfit and the Staggies coming up short on home soil against Jack Ross's men.
Match preview
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St Johnstone's hopes of a top-six finish are still alive after a brilliant 25-yard curling effort from Liam Craig was enough to seal a narrow 1-0 victory against Hibernian two weeks ago.
A run which has seen the Saints accumulate 10 points from a possible 15 available has helped ease any potential fears of relegation, moving them 11 points clear of the bottom two.
St Johnstone head into their clash with Ross County after failing to win any of their last seven meetings against them, including their two encounters earlier this campaign, drawing 1-1 in January and losing 1-0 on home soil in September.
Victory on Saturday would see Callum Davidson's side move into the top six, if St Mirren failed to win away at Hamilton Academical.
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Ross County were unable to secure successive league victories for the first time since August as they lost 2-1 at home to Hibernian last weekend.
The deadlock was broken in the 50th minute when Billy Mckay tapped in from close range, but a double from Hibs pair Martin Boyle and Kevin Nisbet inside eight minutes turned the game on its head and saw the visitors snatch all three points at Victoria Park.
Despite losing their 19th Scottish Premiership game of the season, John Hughes's men remain three points above the bottom three with just six matches left to play.
Ross County have a good record a McDiarmid Park in recent seasons, winning two and drawing two of their last four visits.
The Staggies have lacked consistency during the last two months after alternating between a loss and a win in their last seven league games.
Securing another three points on their travels would provide a massive boost for Hughes's side in their quest for survival and would also see them win back-to-back top-flight visits to St Johnstone for the first time.
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Team News
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St Johnstone defender Shaun Rooney limped off against Hamilton two weeks ago and remains doubtful for the clash with Ross County, which could see Michael O'Halloran adopt the right wing-back position.
Murray Davidson, who has missed the last six matches including the League Cup final last month, could also again miss out with a calf injury.
Craig Davidson has no other injury or suspension concerns ahead of this weekend's game.
Ross County left-back Carl Tremarco sustained a hamstring injury in the win over Kilmarnock and after missing the match against Hibs, the 35-year-old is unlikely to feature this weekend.
Defender Callum Morris is also out with a similar issue, while Connor Randall and Tom Grivosti are both unavailable for the rest of the season with back and hamstring injuries respectively.
St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Clark; Kerr, Gordon, McCart; O'Halloran, McCann, Craig, Booth; Melamed, Wotherspoon; Kane
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Laidlaw; Donaldson, Watson, Iacovitti; Naismith, Spittal, Lakin, Tilson, Hjelde; Mckay; White
We say: St Johnstone 1-1 Ross County
Seven of the last nine Scottish Premiership meetings between St Johnstone and Ross County have ended as a draw, with both sides also winning once each in this run. With little to separate the two teams, we can see another score draw being played out at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
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 Johnstone win with a probability of 45.92%. A draw had a probability of 28.9% and a win for Ross County had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a St Johnstone win was 1-0 with a probability of 15.1%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.58%) and 2-1 (8.24%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.98%), while for a Ross County win it was 0-1 (10.23%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 15.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for St Johnstone in this match.
