Hearts and St Mirren both failed to win on their return from the international break last weekend, which is something they will look to put right on Saturday when they face each other.
The hosts are only four points away from the league leaders at the moment, while the visitors sit in midtable, being just six points above the relegation zone.
Match preview
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Hearts suffered only their second defeat of the season last weekend when they faced Motherwell, conceding a goal in either half as they struggled to get a foothold in the game.
The Jam Tarts finished the fixture with 10 men as Taylor Moore was sent off, adding further misery to the club upon their return from the international break.
Despite that, they are only four points behind Rangers at the moment, keeping themselves in the title race and they will be hoping to add pressure to them this weekend.
However, the squad have only managed one victory in their previous six fixtures, which is something that the club needs to turn around sooner rather than later.
The last time they faced St Mirren was the second game of the season and that did lead to a victory for Hearts, with the Buddies finishing that game with 10 men.
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Goals from Liam Boyce and Andy Halliday secured the 2-1 victory on that day which is a result that the visiting team will be hoping not to repeat at the weekend.
However, St Mirren have been in equally as poor form as of late as they too have only won once in their last six matches, with a trio of draws in that period.
The Buddies were held to a 1-1 draw at the weekend when they hosted Livingston, as they conceded in the 88th minute, despite the fact they originally had the lead via Jamie McGrath.
Goals have been a problem for Jim Goodwin's squad though, having only scored once in their previous three fixtures, which is not ideal against one of the strongest defensive units in the league.
While St Mirren are currently in midtable, they are only six points above the relegation zone, with just three separating them and Livingston, who sit in 10th, placing slightly more pressure on the performance.
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Team News
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Conor McCarthy was forced to withdraw during the recent draw with Livingston and he will likely be unavailable again at the weekend, which could provide the chance for Charles Dunne to start.
Eamonn Brophy was brought back into the starting lineup during that fixture and that is something that could continue, seeing him lead the line with McGrath.
After his red card against Motherwell, Moore will be unavailable for Hearts and that could open the door for Craig Halkett to make his return after his hip injury.
There could also be a change offensively as well, with Boyce potentially taking back his place in the starting XI with Josh Ginnelly dropping down to the bench.
Hearts possible starting lineup:
Gordon; Kingsley, Souttar, Dunne; Smith, Devlin, Baningime, Cochrane; Woodburn, McKay; Boyce
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Shaughnessy, Dunne, Fraser; Tait, Power, Flynn, Tanser, Ronan; Brophy, McGrath
We say: Hearts 2-1 St Mirren
Even though Hearts have been in poor form recently, the club do have a stronger squad and they have proven themselves to be tough to defeat throughout the campaign.
They should have enough quality to earn the three points in this particular fixture, keeping themselves in the hunt at the top of the league.
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 Hearts win with a probability of 61.34%. A draw had a probability of 21.9% and a win for St Mirren had a probability of 16.78%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hearts win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.94%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.28%) and 2-1 (9.84%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.4%), while for a St Mirren win it was 0-1 (5.51%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 11.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Hearts would win this match.
