Preview: St Mirren vs Aberdeen - prediction, team news, lineups

St Mirren will aim to bounce back from their defeat to Kilmarnock last time out when they host Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.

The hosts are fifth in the standings with nine points from seven games, while the visitors are bottom of the table with four points from seven fixtures.

Match preview

St Mirren have consistently finished inside the top six of the Scottish Premiership over the last three seasons, placing sixth in 2022-23, fifth in 2023-24 and sixth in 2024-25.

Stephen Robinson's side are once again inside the top six at this early stage of the campaign, placed fifth in the standings with nine points from seven matches.

The Saints have won two, drawn three and lost two of their seven fixtures, including a five-game unbeaten run before losing 2-0 to Kilmarnock in their most recent match before the international break.

Alongside their league results, St Mirren have booked their place in the Scottish League Cup semi-finals against Motherwell after beating Kilmarnock and Hearts on penalties in the prior two rounds.

Robinson will, therefore, be eager to return to that impressive form and immediately bounce back from their recent defeat to Kilmarnock when they take on Aberdeen.

The Dons, in contrast to their hosts, have endured a miserable opening to the 2025-26 season, but are now looking to build on their first league victory of the campaign, having won 4-0 against Dundee last time out.

Aberdeen, who finished fifth in the standings last term, won just one of their opening 11 matches across all competitions - a 3-0 win over lower-league Greenock Morton in the Scottish League Cup.

Outside of that, Aberdeen were eliminated from the Europa League in the playoff round against FCSB and lost their opening Conference League match against Shakhtar Donetsk, while they suffered five defeats and managed only one draw in their first six league fixtures.

Those results caused the pressure to rise on Jimmy Thelin's role at the club, but following their resounding victory against Dundee before the international break, the manager will be hoping his side can build on that win and begin to ease the pressure on his position.

Aberdeen have, however, historically struggled in their visits to the SMISA Stadium, having lost seven and drawn two of their last nine visits.

St Mirren Scottish Premiership form:

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Aberdeen Scottish Premiership form:

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Team News

St Mirren will remain without the services of Marcus Fraser (ankle) and Mark O'Hara (foot) for this match due to ongoing injury issues, though the former is expected to return in the coming games as he is back in training.

Despite enjoying a positive start to the league campaign in terms of results, St Mirren have scored just five goals in seven outings, and they will be hoping for improved performances from strikers Mikael Mandron and Jonah Ayunga in this one.

As for Aberdeen, Kjartan Mar Kjartansson (calf) and Kristers Tobers (knee) are both unlikely to feature for the Dons on Saturday.

Following their first league win of the season before the international break, brilliantly beating Dundee 4-0, Thelin could look to name the same starting team here.

Jesper Karlsson scored two goals in that match, and the Dons will be looking to the forward to make the difference once again in this one.

St Mirren possible starting lineup:

George; King, Gogic, Freckleton; Richardson, Phillips, Donnelly, Idowu, John; Ayunga, Mandron

Aberdeen possible starting lineup:

Mitov; Devlin, Milne, Knoester; Jensen, Shinnie, Armstrong, Gyamfi; Aouchiche, Karlsson; Nisbet

We say: St Mirren 1-1 Aberdeen

St Mirren have had a significantly stronger start to the campaign than their visitors, but they were defeated in their last outing, while the Dons will be boosted by their recent victory, leading us to expect a tightly-matched affair that ends all square.

These two sides are among the lowest scoring in the division, with just nine goals scored between them, and we expect this one to feature limited goals.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.