St Johnstone vs Hearts Match Analysis and Prediction

2 years ago 428

St Johnstone are set to take on Hearts at the McDiarmid Park in an intriguing Premiership affair on Saturday evening with kickoff at 18:00.

St Johnstone have made a poor Premiership campaign this season with the side recording only four wins from their 26 matches, while picking up eight draws and suffering 14 defeats in the process and they currently sit at the bottom of table with 20 points on board.

However, a run of six points from their last five matches have seen the Saints reduce the gap between them and fellow relegation member Dundee to one point while moving to seven points adrift of safety. A win on Saturday for Callum Davidson’s side could potentially see them leapfrog the Dark Blues and while also reducing the gap between them and survival.

Therefore the Saints will be looking to maintain and improve on their new found momentum as they desperately hope to close the gap between them and Ross County, although they will need to work on their home first having only won once in front of their own crowd this season, boasting the worst record in the Premiership. But will draw confidence from their good home record against their visitors as they have not lost Hearts in their last 14 encounters at McDiarmid Park.

Meanwhile Hearts have made a strong campaign this season with the side claiming 12 wins from their 26 matches while picking up seven draws and seven defeats in the process and currently sit in the third spot with 43 points on board, which is really impressive for a side that played in the Championship last term.

However, Hearts have hit a slump in the Premiership recently as they have failed to claim all three points in their last three league matches, recording a 0-0 draw against Hibernian before suffering back-to-back defeats against Rangers (5-0) and Dundee (1-2). The run has seen the gap between them and the two increased to nine while the one between them and the fourth side reduced to 10.

Although, they head into the match a bit motivated following their 4-3 win in the penalty shootout against Livingston in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup and thus will hope to build on that as they aim at returning on the right track. They will draw confidence from their 2-0 win against their hosts in their previous league fixture.

St Johnstone vs Hearts head to head

Both sides have met in 58 encounters since 1997 with Hearts claiming 20 victories wile St Johnstone have claimed 18 victories and there have been 20 draws.