The Scottish Premiership's two basement sides renew hostilities in the Tayside Derby on Saturday afternoon, as Dundee welcome St Johnstone to the Kilmac Stadium.

The hosts enter the second stage of the season rooted to the bottom of the rankings - five points and one place worse off than Callum Davidson's side.

Match preview

Dundee's Zeno Rossi in action on February 20, 2022 © Reuters

Relegation back down to the Championship is looming for Mark McGhee's Dundee side, who did perform admirably to come back from 2-0 down and rescue a 2-2 draw with rivals Dundee United at Tannadice Park in matchday 33.

After Nicky Clark and Charlie Mulgrew had put Dundee United two goals to the good on their own turf, Dundee refused to wave the white flag and restored parity through two quickfire strikes from Danny Mullen and Charlie Adam, but that has done little to help their survival bid.

With the league now splitting into the top and bottom sections for the final five matchdays, Dundee still occupy 12th place in the table and are guaranteed to stay there no matter what transpires this weekend, with St Johnstone holding an unassailable five-point lead for the time being.

The Dark Blues need no added motivation to try to cut that gap down to two this weekend, but it is now eight Premiership games without a win for McGhee's side, and the 64-year-old would choose no better time to finally post his first league win in the Kilmac Stadium dugout.

Furthermore, not since December have Dundee managed to prevail on their own turf in any competition, and they would do well to take a leaf out of Celtic's book ahead of Saturday's encounter.

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson remonstrates on April 9, 2022 © Reuters

Less than 12 months ago, St Johnstone were celebrating a domestic cup double and going toe-to-toe with Galatasaray in the Europa League, but Callum Davidson's men are now involved in an ugly scrap for survival at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table.

This weekend's visitors to the Kilmac Stadium conceded the first goal with just eight minutes on the clock against Celtic, and the floodgates opened thereafter, as Ange Postecoglou's men ran out 7-0 winners at Celtic Park to bring St Johnstone crashing back down to earth.

Davidson's side had posted back-to-back home wins over Motherwell and Livingston before being torn to shreds by the league leaders, and their current 11th-placed standing would force them to fight for their top-flight status in the relegation playoffs.

While Dundee have not been a force to be reckoned with at home this term, St Johnstone have only amassed five points from the last 30 on offer away from home in the Premiership, and both teams have won one each against each other this season, as well as a drab goalless stalemate back in January.

Dundee Scottish Premiership form:

Dundee form (all competitions):

St Johnstone Scottish Premiership form:

Team News

St Johnstone's Callum Booth reacts with teammates after the match on August 5, 2021 © Reuters

Dundee trio Lee Ashcroft, Adam Legzdins and Cillian Sheridan are once again the only three injury concerns for the hosting manager at the time of writing, but goalkeeper Legzdins is due to return to training in the near future.

McGhee has faced calls to bring youthful shot-stopper Harry Sharp back into the fold after Ian Lawlor was at fault for Clark's opener against Dundee United, but the Dundee boss is not prepared to make any alterations in between the sticks.

Paul McGowan lasted just 45 minutes last time out and could now find his spot under threat from Josh Mulligan and Niall McGinn, but McGhee will be hesitant to make many changes after an impressive fightback.

Meanwhile, St Johnstone's injury list contains three long-term absentees of their own in Chris Kane, Tony Gallacher and David Wotherspoon - none of whom will play again this season.

Craig Bryson is stepping up his recovery from an ankle operation but will not be involved just yet, and the manner of St Johnstone's loss to Celtic could tempt Davidson into numerous changes, with Stevie May and Cammy MacPherson among those waiting their turn.

Dundee possible starting lineup:
Lawlor; Kerr, McGhee, Sweeney, Marshall; Anderson, Adam, Byrne; McGowan, McMullan; Mullen

St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Clark; Rooney, McCart, Gordon, Brown, Booth; Crawford, Davidson, MacPherson, Middleton; Hendry

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We say: Dundee 1-1 St Johnstone

Such a pivotal game at the bottom of the standings should lead to a fiery spectacle on Saturday, but Dundee continue to struggle in front of their own fans while St Johnstone flatter to deceive away.

There should be no repeat of the seven-goal drubbing from Celtic Park for the visitors, who did pick up some crucial wins beforehand, and we think this basement battle has a low-scoring draw written all over it.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

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 Dundee win with a probability of 39.57%. A win for St Johnstone had a probability of 31.63% and a draw had a probability of 28.8%.

The most likely scoreline for a Dundee win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.85%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.94%) and 2-0 (7.67%). The likeliest St Johnstone win was 0-1 (11.14%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.3%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-1 draw for this match.