St Johnstone and Hearts meet at McDiarmid Park on Sunday in front of the Sky Sports cameras knowing their respective seasons are reaching critical points. The Perth club need results if they are to have any hope of avoiding relegation given they currently sit six points adrift at the bottom of the league with 12 fixtures remaining. Hearts, meanwhile, have top-six aspirations to attend do.
The Edinburgh club travel north knowing victory could take them into the top half of the table and strengthen hope of securing a European place. Neil Critchley’s team were on an eight-game unbeaten run before last week’s defeat to Rangers, while St Johnstone won four in succession prior to defeat at Kilmarnock.
Both teams have injury concerns ahead of Sunday and the latest news from the two camps is below:
1. Aidan Denholm (Hearts): Out
Hamstring problem has sidelined him since returning from a loan spell at Ross County. | SNS Group
2. Sam McClelland (St Johnstone): Out
Ruptured his Achilles at the start of the season and may not be fit again until summer. | SNS Group
3. Frankie Kent (Hearts): Out
Working back from a quad muscle injury and likely to be a number of weeks from returning. | SNS Group
4. Stephen Kingsley (Hearts): Out
Back doing light running after a hamstring problem but not ready for competitive action. | SNS