Hibernian host Dundee United at the Easter Road Stadium this weekend in the Scottish Premiership matchday 9.
We look at a few stats to predict the match.
Hibernian have been one of the best teams in Scotland this season. After a great start, a few underwhelming performances has seen them go down to third position in the table. They have only managed to win one of their last four matches and are coming on the back of a loss against Rangers. Jack Ross and his squad would certainly aim at this fixture to get back on track with three points.
The Edinburgh side have been one of the best attacking sides in the league with 14 goals scored from an xG of 12.57, the third-best in the league and have overperformed their metric as well. Martin Boyle has been the joint leading goal scorer in the league with six goals and will be their biggest weapon in attack. However, they have conceded eight goals so far where they could definitely make a slight improvement.
Dundee United have been one of the most compact sides in the division, covering their weaknesses really well with their strengths. They are placed on fifth in the table with 14 points to show from and have bagged a total of eight points from their possible 12. Thomas Courts will want his men to overcome this challenge away from home too.
They have the second-lowest xG in the league of 5.09 and have been on par with it scoring just five goals in 11 matches. There have been real problems for them while going forward but they have kept it really solid at the back conceding just five goals, boasting one of the best defences in the league.
Dundee United’s struggles upfront are further cleared in the above image where they have taken 33 shots on target but have only managed to score five, a really bad conversion rate from all conversations.
Hibernian have been way more clinical with 14 goals in 35 attempts on target and even though Dundee United have been going strong due to their defence, it will be a real challenge against an in-form attack of Boyle and Nisbet if they fail to score enough goals.
Ryan Porteous is suspended for the home side while Christian Doidge, Kyle Magennis and Melker Hallberg are all set to return into the side after missing the game against Rangers.
Maxime Biamou can make his debut for Dundee United while no one remains absent for Courts to select from.
It is going to be an interesting battle between a strong defensive side and a confident attacking side, we predict a 1-1 draw between them.
