A vital clash as the bottom of the Scottish Premiership takes place on Saturday, when St Mirren travel to McDiarmid Park, where they will face St Johnstone, who sit five points behind their visitors in 11th spot.

St Johnstone have four games left to climb out of the relegation playoff position, and they come up against a St Mirren side low in confidence after five consecutive defeats in all competitions.

Match preview

Callum Davidson's side recovered from a heavy 7-0 defeat against Celtic with a 1-1 draw last weekend, when Shaun Rooney's second-half strike levelled the scoreline against bottom-placed Dundee.

St Johnstone would have come away from that match disappointed that they did not claim all three points after dominating possession and registering eight more chances than Dundee, but it was important that they did not lose that encounter, as that would have put Dundee within two points of Davidson's side.

The Saints have only netted 22 goals in 34 matches this season, the lowest total out of the teams in the Scottish top flight, suggesting that keeping a clean sheet on Saturday will help massively towards claiming maximum points, as the hosts are unlikely to net more than once.

Defensively, they have been stronger than St Mirren this season, conceding 45 goals compared to their visitors, who have let in 51 goals, but with both records poor from 34 games, that may suggest there is a good opportunity for goals on Saturday.

Even with three points this weekend, St Johnstone will still remain behind St Mirren, closing the gap to two points, meaning that they will have to put together a strong unbeaten run at the end of this campaign to leapfrog their opponents.

If St Mirren continue their current form, that will aid St Johnstone's survival quest massively, entering this encounter having won just once in their last nine league matches.

Last time out, Steve Robinson's side narrowly fell to a 1-0 defeat against Hibernian, but the hosts did show signs that they can turn their fortunes around after creating more chances in front of goal than Hibernian.

The Buddies have a better record away from home this season, which bodes well for this weekend's outing, having secured two more wins on their travels than they have managed on their own patch, despite conceding 11 more goals on the road.

A big incentive for St Mirren on Saturday will be that if they can pick up three points at McDiarmid Park, that will put them eight points clear of St Johnstone, meaning that the 11th-placed outfit will have to win all of their remaining games to catch them.

The first two meetings between these two teams this season ended in goalless draws, but the last encounter was won by St Mirren, who secured a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Connor Ronan and Alex Greive.

Team News

St Johnstone will continue to be without Tony Gallacher, David Wotherspoon and Chris Kane, who have all been ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury.

Craig Bryson has been sidelined for a long period, suffering from an ankle injury, and he will not feature this weekend, but could return to the side in the early stages of next month.

The hosts will operate in a 3-4-1-2 formation, with Nadir Ciftci and Callum Hendry expected to continue to lead the line, while Rooney and Callum Booth offer attacking support from their wing-back roles.

St Mirren's injury list is not as lengthy as St Johnstone's, with Matthew Millar the only certain absentee ahead of this outing, having not featured for the side since February.

Defender Richard Tait was forced off after just 11 minutes against Hibernian, and he could be ruled out for this encounter, meaning that Jay Henderson could fill in at right wing-back pushing Conor McCarthy back into a more central defensive role in the back three.

St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Clark; McCart, Gordon, Cleary; Booth, Davidson, Hallberg, Rooney; Crawford; Ciftci, Hendry

St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Shaughnessy, Fraser, McCarthy; Tanser, Erhahon, Ronan, Power, Henderson; Brophy, Main

We say: St Johnstone 0-1 St Mirren

Despite St Mirren entering this clash in poor form, they have been more effective on their travels this season, and will look to extend the gap between themselves and 11th spot this weekend.

With both teams not overly productive in the final third, this may be a low-scoring affair, but nonetheless, it will be a closely-fought encounter due to the position of both sides in the table.

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