Match preview: Kilmarnock vs Saints
First Team

Match preview: Kilmarnock vs Saints

22nd December 2016

Thursday 22 December 2016

Thursday 22nd December

St Johnstone face Kilmarnock tomorrow night in their final fixture before Christmas. Saints, who were beaten 1-0 earlier in the season by the Ayrshire outfit, go into the fixture on the back of last weekend's home draw with Motherwell. Chris Kane's second half equaliser cancelled out Zander Clark's own goal after twelve minutes, which kept Saints four points behind Hearts in fourth with a game in hand. Saints only defeated Kilmarnock once last season - a 2-1 home victory last November - and lost twice at Rugby Park.

The hosts sit 7th in the table going into the fixture. Last weekend's home draw with Inverness ensured they remained mid-table, four points ahead of bottom of the table Partick Thistle. A win could see them go within two points of Saints, but equally Saints could stretch the gap between the two sides to eight points with a victory.

Michael Coulson is out of the fixture with a calf strain and Steven MacLean won't feature due to the Rugby Park artificial surface. However, Danny Swanson, Liam Craig and Steven Anderson have all trained this week and will be available for the match. Manager Tommy Wright spoke midweek of the returning players and the run of fixtures over the festive period: "It's great to have the three boys (Swanson, Craig and Anderson) back for the run of three fixtures in eight days. It's good to have the option of freshening things up over this run of games. The bigger the group of players you're able to choose from the better.

"Kilmarnock's home form has really improved this season and Lee Clark has done a great job there. They're a good team who play at a good tempo, so we'll need to maintain our performances over recent weeks. We now have to be at our best over the next three games against Kilmarnock, Dundee and Rangers to gain as many points possible over this run of fixtures."

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Match preview by Josh Barrie

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