Preview: St Mirren vs. Dundee United - prediction, team news, lineups

Dundee United will travel to Paisley on Saturday afternoon to face St Mirren, looking for their third win of the season.

For St Mirren, the fixture offers a prime opportunity to get their season up and running, after only collecting two points from their opening four games.

Match preview

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Jim Goodwin's St Mirren side have faced a difficult start to the campaign, as the team from Paisley are still searching for their first league win of the season.

The problems are stacking up at both ends of the pitch, scoring only three goals in the opening four fixtures, but more worryingly they have conceded 10 goals in the league, with six of those goals coming in a 6-0 defeat to Celtic.

Furthermore, they have an issue of conceding goals before the interval - in fact, no other side in the Scottish Premiership has conceded more first-half goals this term, with St Mirren seeing the ball hit the back of the net on six occasions within the first period so far this season.

Positively, they picked up their first clean sheet of the Scottish Premiership season before the international break with a goalless draw at home to St Johnstone, which would have given the whole squad a much-needed confidence boost.

Last season, St Mirren accumulated four points from the two games against Saturday's opponents, which included a resounding 5-1 win away at Tannadice, and the Saints will be hoping that they can carry that form into this fixture.

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On the other hand, Dundee United will be content with their start to the league season, which has seen two wins and two defeats, but most impressively that included a phenomenal 1-0 win over current champions Rangers.

The only glaring issue for The Tangerines is that they have only managed to find the net on two occasions - only St Johnstone have scored fewer in the league this season.

Tam Courts will be aiming to continue Dundee United's impressive record at The SMISA Stadium, as the visitors have only lost one of their last 16 top-flight games away to St Mirren.

With that in mind, Saturday's fixture represents a wonderful chance for the Tangerines to win back-to-back away league games for the first time since August 2020.

Dundee United collected seven points after five games last season, therefore a win at the weekend would leave them two points better off than at the same stage last season, and a victory would be perfect preparation ahead of the derby against Dundee next weekend.

Team News

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Cameron MacPherson was on the bench for St Mirren in their last league game, but he has since departed to join St Johnstone on loan.

Also in contention for the home side are new additions Conor Ronan, who has joined on loan from Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Matt Millar who has joined the club on a free transfer, signing a deal until the end of the season.

Millar is likely to start on the bench, but Ronan could replace Ethan Erhahon, who was sent off in the club's last league game against St Johnstone.

Jim Goodwin will have Jamie McGrath available after the Irishman impressed on international duty, and there are no new injury concerns for the St Mirren boss.

For the visitors, they saw both Calum Butcher and Mark Connolly return from injury to make the bench in their last league game and both are expected to be substitutes in this fixture.

Trevor Carson will start in goal, but Dundee United are hopeful Benjamin Siegrist will return from injury quicker than expected, however, Saturday will likely come too soon for the Swiss goalkeeper.

Dundee United are hopeful that Ilmari Niskanen could make his debut this weekend, as they await international clearance to be granted for their new signing and if that is approved Niskanen could be in the squad for the weekend.

Elsewhere, new addition Scott McMann is likely to replace Jamie Robson at left-back after Robson departed Tannadice to join Lincoln City for an undisclosed fee.

St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Fraser, Shaughnessy, Dunne; McCarthy, Tait, Ronan, McGrath, Tanser; Brophy, Main

Dundee United possible starting lineup:
Carson; Smith, Edwards, Mulgrew, McMann; Mochrie, Levitt, Fuchs, Sporle; Clark, McNulty

We say: St Mirren 1-1 Dundee United

The last two league games that have taken place at The SMISA Stadium have ended in goalless draws, but with St Mirren's first four games resulting in 13 goals, it is unlikely the game will remain goalless this time around.

The visitors will be searching for victory, although with Dundee United struggling to score this season they may have to settle for a point on this occasion.