Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Scottish Premiership clash between Hibernian and St Johnstone, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Hibernian will go in search of their first league win of the season when they host St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.
The visitors are in up and down form themselves though, and they only won four of their 19 away games in the league last season.
Match preview
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Hibs come into Saturday’s game in poor form, as they are winless in their four opening league games, but with consecutive draws they could be primed to turn the tide in their favour if they can shore up their defence.
Their most recent result was a 1-1 away draw at Kilmarnock, where a late Bruce Anderson penalty cancelled out Joe Newell‘s opener and denied Hibs victory.
Despite a poor start to the season for David Gray‘s side, they have perhaps been unfortunate to meet Celtic in back-to-back games; a 2-0 home league defeat was followed up with a 3-1 away loss at Celtic Park in the League Cup.
Hibs were also impressive in their last home game against Dundee, but once again they were denied three points late on as they drew 2-2 courtesy of Simon Murray‘s timely equaliser.
Over the summer, Hibs made some impressive signings as they looked to improve on their eighth-place finish from last season, with the likes of Kieron Bowie from Fulham, Junior Hoilett from Aberdeen and Nicky Cadden of Barnsley being some of their most noteworthy incomings.
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St Johnstone have also made a stuttering start to their campaign, but they do sit one place and one point above Saturday’s hosts thanks to their solitary league victory over Kilmarnock.
In their last game, St Johnstone were beaten 2-1 at home by Motherwell, where Benjamin Kimpioka‘s strike was not enough as goals from Dan Casey and Moses Ebiye resigned the Saints to a third straight defeat in all competitions.
Defeat was not the only bad news from that game though, as it was also the third time already this season that Craig Levein‘s side had seen a player of theirs being sent off.
Jack Sanders saw red in injury time to round off a miserable start to the season for the new defensive signing, as he also scored an own goal in their 2-0 defeat at Dundee United.
While discipline looks to be an issue for the Saints, they have also demonstrated their attacking quality in their 3-0 away win at Kilmarnock in August, when goals from Adama Sidibeh and Kimpioka gave Levein a glimpse of what his side can be capable of.
Hibernian Scottish Premiership form:
Hibernian form (all competitions):
St Johnstone Scottish Premiership form:
St Johnstone form (all competitions):
Team News
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Hibs have a few injury concerns to contend with ahead of Saturday’s game, with Jack Doyle-Hayes, Elie Youan and Hoilett all expected to miss out here through injury.
David Gray otherwise has a strong squad to pick from, with Rory McKenzie and Jack Burroughs in particular pushing for starts, after both made substitute appearances against Kilmarnock last time out.
For St Johnstone, Gambian forward Sidibeh is still serving his four-game suspension after receiving two red cards in the Dundee United defeat, and Uche Ikpeazu (knee) and Sam McClelland (achilles) are long-term absentees with their injuries.
Sanders is also suspended for the away trip to Hibs after he was dismissed in the home defeat against Motherwell, so Aaron Essel could drop back from midfield to compensate, or David Keltjens could deputise in defence in place of Sanders.
Levein otherwise has the rest of his squad available for selection, with Nicky Clark and Kimpioka likely to start in attack, and Graham Carey will be pushing to start on the left flank ahead of the more defensive option of Andre Raymond.
Hibernian possible starting lineup:
Bursik; Miller, Ekpiteta, O’Hora, Obita; Levitt, Triantis, Newell; Boyle, Cadden, Kukharevych
St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Sinclair; Neilson, Essel, Cameron; Wright, Holt, MacPherson, Smith, Carey; Clark, Kimpioka
We say: Hibernian 1-1 St Johnstone
It is a tough ask to separate two teams that have both started the season with much room for improvement, and while St Johnstone come into Saturday’s game on the back of three straight defeats, Hibs do not look as though they are in the best place to capitalise on this.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.