Aberdeen host St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday hoping to secure their 11th victory of the season and creep into the top two.

Meanwhile, St Johnstone's poor run of form in the league continued in midweek with a 3-0 defeat against Rangers.

Match preview

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes pictured in November 22, 2020 © Reuters

Aberdeen were unable to win three consecutive league matches as they played out a drab goalless draw away at Motherwell on Wednesday evening.

Derek McInnes's side, who have now drawn a blank on six occasions in the top flight this season, had just one shot on target against the Steelmen and failed to pose a threat in the final third.

The Dons have however extended their unbeaten run to five matches in the league and McInnes is hoping that a run of victories in the coming weeks could push them into the top two.

Aberdeen have only lost one of their last five league meetings with St Johnstone, winning 1-0 in their previous match in August earlier this season.

One player who has enjoyed facing the Saints is midfielder Ryan Hedges, who since the start of last season has been directly involved in all three of Aberdeen's league goals against St Johnstone, scoring two and assisting the other.

Aberdeen secured a 2-1 win against Livingston on Boxing Day last year, which ended a run of four matches on this date without a victory. Securing three points once again could see the Dons move above Celtic into second place if the Hoops were to drop points away at Hamilton and if Hibernian failed to beat Rangers.

St Johnstone have slipped into another spell of bad form as the defeat at home to Rangers extended their winless run in the league to six matches.

The Saints have dropped to 10th in the Scottish Premiership, only four points clear of Ross County, who sit rock bottom of the table.

Callum Davidson's side head into their fixture with Aberdeen unbeaten in their last three away league games against them and are looking to win back-to-back visits at Pittodrie for the first time since October 2015.

St Johnstone have also won their last two top-flight matches on Boxing Day by a 1-0 scoreline, both coming away from home against St Mirren and Hamilton.

Davidson will be keen for his side to turn their fortunes around and a victory for the first time since early November could move them up to eighth place.

Aberdeen Scottish Premiership form: LDDWWD
Aberdeen form (all competitions): DLDWWD

St Johnstone Scottish Premiership form: DDDLLL
St Johnstone form (all competitions): WDLWWL

Team News

Scott Wright pictured for Aberdeen against Viking FK in September 2020 © Reuters

Aberdeen's Tommy Hoban was a doubt heading into Wednesday's match with Motherwell, but the defender started the match as his hamstring issue was not as bad as first feared. The 26-year-old is set to remain in the first XI once again alongside Ash Taylor and Andrew Considine.

Marley Watkins remains out with a hamstring problem, while Scott Wright and Dylan McGeouch are both recovering from hernia injuries.

Defender Michael Devlin, who underwent ankle surgery last week, is expected to be out until March.

St Johnstone defender Jason Kerr is available again after suspension and is expected to replace Shaun Rooney in the starting lineup.

However, winger Michael O'Halloran was shown two yellow cards within six minutes of coming on as a substitute against Rangers and is therefore unavailable for Saturday.

Stevie May, who has scored five goals and provided three assists in the league so far this campaign, is set to return to the starting lineup as the loan striker, with support in behind from David Wotherspoon and Craig Conway.

Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Lewis; Hoban, Taylor, Considine; Kennedy, Ferguson, McCrorie, Hayes; Hedges, McLennan; Main

St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Clark; Kerr, Gordon, McCart; McNamara, McCann, Davidson, Tanser; Wotherspoon, Conway; May

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We say: Aberdeen 2-0 St Johnstone

Both sides are sitting at opposite ends of the Scottish Premiership table as things stand, and even though the Saints are desperate to move away from danger, the Dons should have enough quality to secure the three points on Saturday.

Top betting tip

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Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Aberdeen win with a probability of 48.46%. A draw had a probability of 27.1% and a win for St Johnstone had a probability of 24.43%.

The most likely scoreline for an Aberdeen win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.8%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.72%) and 2-1 (8.89%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.62%), while for a St Johnstone win it was 0-1 (8.96%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Aberdeen would win this match.