Preview: St Helens vs Huddersfield Giants - Prediction, team news and lineups

St Helens will be desperate to snap their three-match winless run in the Super League when they take on bottom-of-the-table Huddersfield Giants at the BrewDog Stadium this Sunday afternoon.

Saints have dropped to sixth in the standings following their poor run of form, while the Giants continued their dreadful campaign last week with yet another woeful performance.

Match preview

St Helens have done it tough in recent weeks, not only enduring a string of bad results but also contending with a worsening injury situation.

The last three defeats have been particularly painful for Saints, with the team losing 30-10 away at Castleford Tigers, 24-16 away at Leeds Rhinos, and 18-6 at home to Warrington Wolves last week.

Paul Rowley’s men opened the scoring in that derby clash with Wire, though they ultimately endured another loss after conceding 18 unanswered points.

The recent slump in results has seen St Helens drop to sixth in the standings, with the team now sitting just two points clear of the Leigh Leopards, and six points adrift of league leaders Leeds.

Having won their last 14 head-to-head meetings with Huddersfield, most are expecting the shots to finally snap their lengthy losing run.

However, when the two teams last met in May, it was not smooth sailing for Rowley’s side who endured resistance in their 26-18 victory.

With seven straight defeats to their name, the alarm bells are well and truly ringing for the Huddersfield Giants.

Poor results are one thing, but the ongoing poor performances have got some rugby league fans questioning Huddersfield’s place in Super League.

The woeful run continued last week with a 36-12 defeat away at Hull FC - the club’s 12th defeat in the Super League this season, and the third successive game in which they have conceded 36 or more points.

New head coach Jim Lenihan has watched his men score 28 points across his first three matches, which is a huge problem given the huge volume of points his team concedes.

One positive for the Giants is that they will take confidence from the fact they ran St Helens close during their last head-to-head encounter - something they will be looking to replicate this Sunday.

St Helens Super League form:

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Huddersfield Giants Super League form:

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Team News

St Helens were rocked by the shock departure of NRL winger Kyle Feldt this week - the second player to be released this season, after Agnatius Paasi.

The news comes at a time when Saints are already struggling for numbers, with Jonny Lomax, Noah Stephens and Deon Cross all joining the injury list.

Skipper Matty Lees is already out for the remainder of the season, and the same can be said of Jake Wingfield, who has a nasty ACL injury.

If that was not enough to worry about, the team have been without Nene Macdonald for most of the season, while Lewis Murphy has a returning elbow problem.

In better news, Jacob Host and Harry Robertson have been named in the squad, while Jackson Hastings also marks his return from suspension.

New Huddersfield signing Zane Dunford could make his debut for the Giants after signing from the Brisbane Tigers.

Lewis Jagger returns to the squad as Harry Rushton and Connor Wrench both miss out.

St Helens 21-man squad:
Welsby, Robertson, Percival, Sailor, Walmsley, Clark, Sironen, Wright, Klemmer, Host, Delaney, Whitley, Whitby, Shorrocks, Dagnall, MacDonald, Davies, Humphreys, Hastings, Suluka-Fifita, Swarbrick

Huddersfield Giants 20-man squad:
Evalds, Gagai, Milne, Lolohea, Powell, Woolford, Burgess, O’Donnell, Rogers, English, King, Greenwood, Rush, Cozza, Flanagan Jr, Patolo, Russell, Geyer, Kershaw, Jagger, Dunford

We say: St Helens 18-12 Huddersfield Giants

Both teams are in the midst of a crisis, but St Helens should have enough quality to get over the line and snap their losing run.

Huddersfield Giants have delivered some incredibly poor performances in recent times, and there is little evidence to suggest they can turn things around away against Saints.