St Mirren v Hearts
Football : Scottish Premier League
Saturday 05/11/2011 - Kickoff 15.00 (local)

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St Mirren

Danny Lennon's St Mirren side are sitting in 6th place in the Scottish Premier League table and will be keen to get the 3 points that will leapfrog them above Hearts.

The Saints are coming off the back of an impressive win at St Johnstone last week and will be looking to put together back to back wins for the first time this season.

Jon McShane is not available for this game but I would imagine St Mirren will adopt their 4-3-3 formation for home games with Teale, Hasselbaink and Thompson in attack.

Possible St Mirren lineup : (4-3-3)
Samson, Van Zanten, Mair, McAusland, Tesslaar, McGowan, Goodwin, McLean, Teale, Hasselbaink, Thompson

Hearts

Again Hearts are in turmoil mainly due as always to their owner Mad Vlad Romanov who is struggling to pay the tax bill, the players, his shrink ... you get the picture.

It's not much better on the pitch lately either after Hearts beat both Celtic and Dunfermline, the Hearts have slumped back down to 5th place with 2 home defeats to Rangers and Kilmarnock.

It's the away form that has been Hearts main problem for the last season and a half. They managed to win their last away game but that was their first 3 points on the road since February.

Hearts will have both Ian Black and Danny Grainger suspended for this match and are still badly missing striker Kevin kyle to bulk up their attack.

Possible Hearts lineup : (4-4-2)
Kello, Hamill, Webster, Zaliukas, Jonsson, Skacel, Mrowiec, Taouil, Templeton, Stevenson, Elliot

THE BETTING VERDICT

This match is a bit of the classic poor home form against poor away form.

St. Mirren's dreadful home form has resulted in just 1 victory and 1 draw from their last six played. Only 5 goals have been registered in this time, with 7 in the wrong end.

Hearts away form is none too clever either, losing only 1 of the last six, but drawing 4 of them. These low-scoring games have seen just 4 goals scored and conceded. Hearts have actually only won 1 away fixture in the last 16.

I just can't see Hearts getting 2 away wins in a row after such a poor run of form on the road and obviously St Mirren can't be trusted at home so the draw is looking a very likely result.

However, with Hearts missing a couple of key players and still crazily playing without a recognised striker I would lean towards a home win if there is to be a winner.

So, for me I like the option of Laying a Hearts win.

The Pick :

St Mirren 1 - 1 Hearts

PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE :

St Mirren 35% - Draw 35% - Hearts 30%

HANDICAP BETTING :

Main Bet : Lay a Hearts win

This can be easily done by betting on ST Mirren +0.5 AH which will payout @ 1.55 to 1.60 if St Mirren win OR draw.