Newly-promoted Hearts will be hoping to make it two wins out of two in the Scottish Premiership when they travel to St Mirren on Saturday afternoon.
The Jam Tarts claimed all three points when they beat Glasgow giants Celtic last weekend, while the spoils were shared between the Saints and Dundee in their opening game.
Match preview
© Reuters
St Mirren played out an entertaining 2-2 draw away at newly-promoted Dundee in their opening league game of the new season last weekend.
Eamonn Brophy scored his first goal for the club since arriving on a permanent basis this summer, but his fourth-minute strike was cancelled out on the stroke of half time when captain Joe Shaughnessy diverted the ball into his own net.
Jamie McGrath then converted from the penalty spot nine minutes after the restart before Dundee scored their second equaliser through Jason Cummings. Even though the hosts were reduced to 10 men, following Max Anderson's 69th minute red card, St Mirren were unable to capitalise with the extra man and had to settle for just a point at Dens Park.
Manager Jim Goodwin was "disappointed" not to come away with all three points against a promoted club, but his side do get a second bite of the cherry when they face last season's Championship winners Hearts on Saturday.
St Mirren have an impressive home record against the Jam Tarts in recent years, winning five and drawing three of their last eight meetings against them in Paisley. The Saints, however, claimed only four victories on home soil last season; only basement club Hamilton Academical claimed fewer home wins.
© Reuters
Hearts kicked off the new season in style with an impressive 2-1 victory against Celtic last weekend, in front of 5,500 fans at Tynecastle.
After their roaring supporters were presented with the Championship trophy for the first time since winning the title in April, the match got underway with Jam Tarts winger Gary Mackay-Steven scoring after eight minutes to put the hosts in front.
Anthony Ralston equalised for the Hoops shortly after the break but it was Hearts who had the last laugh, as defender John Souttar rose above the Celtic backline to head in a dramatic 89th minute winner.
Robbie Neilson was delighted with the performance and result, particularly for their returning fans who he claimed were the driving force behind their victory.
The Paisley-born head coach now prepares for a trip to St Mirren, which was in fact the club's last away visit to a team in the top-flight before their relegation in 2019-20.
Hearts were beaten 1-0 by the Saints in March that season, but a victory on Saturday would help them to continue their bright start to the new campaign, extending their winning run across all competitions to six games.
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
St Mirren defenders Richard Tait and Conor McCarthy will be looking to force their way into the starting lineup this weekend, however both players are set to begin on the bench again, with Shaughnessy, Marcus Fraser and Charles Dunne expected to keep their places in the back three.
New recruits Alan Power and Greg Kiltie, who both joined from Kilmarnock this summer, could feature in midfield, with the latter hoping to make his first league start since his arrival.
Strikers Brophy and Curtis Main are set to partner each other up front again, with Kristian Dennis to start on the bench.
As for Hearts, Jamie Walker missed the victory against Celtic with an ankle injury but the winger is set to be in contention to play on Saturday.
Neilson has started with a 3-4-3 formation in four of their five competitive matches so far this campaign and he will likely use this system again in Paisley.
Wingers Mackay-Steven and Josh Ginnelly are both expected to support central striker Liam Boyce in attack, which will mean the likes of Armand Gnanduillet and Euan Henderson are set to begin on the bench.
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Fraser, Shaughnessy, McCarthy; Henderson, McGrath, Power, Tanser; Kiltie; Main, Brophy
Hearts possible starting lineup:
Gordon, Souttar, Halkett, Kingsley; Smith, Baningime, Halliday, Cochrane; Ginnelly, Boyce, Mackay-Steven
We say: St Mirren 1-2 Hearts
St Mirren and Hearts have looked strong in front of goal so far this campaign, with both sides scoring 21 goals combined in their opening five games between the Premiership and the League Cup.
The two teams will be confident that they can claim all three points on Saturday and even though there is little to separate them, we feel that the Jam Tarts could keep their positive momentum going with a narrow victory in Paisley.
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 52.15%. A draw had a probability of 25.4% and a win for St Mirren had a probability of 22.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hearts win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.96%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.12%) and 1-2 (9.38%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.02%), while for a St Mirren win it was 1-0 (7.7%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Hearts would win this match.
