Ross County will face St. Johnstone at the McDiarmid Park on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership. Both teams are in the bottom half of the Premiership table and have struggled to get points on the board. Ross County are in 12th position with 11 points while St. Johnstone are two places above them with 14 points. A gap of three points separates both teams, and the result of this game can help either team to climb a few places in the points table.
St. Johnstone lost their previous game to Dundee FC as the Dark Blues beat them 1-0, thanks to a Danny Mullen goal in the first half. It was their seventh defeat of the season. Ross County, on the other hand, played out a goalless draw against St. Mirren, which was their fifth draw of the season.
The Saints faced another narrow loss in a game where they had more possession of the ball. As seen in the above visual, they have the second-highest number of recoveries per 90 minutes in the Premiership. They have completed a total of 1,232 recoveries in the game and average 82.26 recoveries per 90 minutes.
The Saints have scored the least number of goals in the league and have a very low overall xG. St. Johnstone are performing pretty well when they have to defend the ball and are also able to win back the ball from the opposition in most cases, but they have failed to be lethal in the final third. They will be facing a team that have conceded the most number of goals in the league and will look to play more attacking football against them.
Ross County have failed to pick up pace this season as their slow start to the Premiership continues. They have only won two games so far this season, but they are only three points below their opponents, and a win can change the scenario for them as it isn’t too late for them.
Blair Spittal has been Ross County’s go-to man for goals this season. The midfielder has scored four goals so far in the season and is their top scorer. He has an average of 0.34 goals per 90 minutes and also generates an xG of 0.16 per game. Spittal has 50% of his shots on target and lies in the 92nd percentile for the same. Spittal has attempted 9.331 attacking actions per 90 minutes and has been able to complete 46.36% of these actions.
Spittal plays as an attacking wide forward for Ross County and has been comfortable playing on both flanks. As seen in the above visual, he has been involved in the build-up towards the goal and has played several passes on both sides of the pitch. He has also put in numerous crosses from both flanks and has a very high xT from these crosses as most of them are put into the opposition’s six-yard box. Spittal will have a vital role against St. Johnstone and will try to get a goal for his team on Saturday. Ross County would be looking forward to a positive start and taking home all three points.
St. Johnstone predicted lineup:
Clark, Brown, Gordon, McCart, Booth, Bryson, Davidson, Wotherspoon, Rooney, Kane, O’Halloran.
Ross County predicted lineup:
Maynard-Brewer, Watson, Baldwin, Lacovitti, Randall, Tillson, Cancola, Spittal, Paton, Charles-Cook, White.
