Seeking to secure their Scottish Premiership status for another season, Dundee travel to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock on Saturday afternoon.
The two teams meet for the first time since the end of November last year when they played out a 1-1 draw in East Ayrshire.
Match preview
© Imago
Kilmarnock have boosted their hopes of Scottish Premiership survival in recent weeks, as they have won three of their last four matches, including back-to-back 2-0 victories over the bottom two teams Ross County and St Johnstone.
Goals either side of half time from Killie duo David Watson and Danny Armstrong secured maximum points against the Saints last weekend, as well as their 11th league win of the campaign, to help them consolidate ninth place in the table and move six points clear of the relegation playoff position with three games remaining.
Kilmarnock supporters are rightly in high spirits at present, but concerns has recently emerged over the future of manager Derek McInnes who missed his pre-match press conference on Wednesday amid reported interest from Hearts.
Assistant coach Paul Sheerin stepped in to address the media and while he is “not surprised” by the rumours linking McInnes with an exit, the 50-year-old has insisted that Kilmarnock “will be prepared if they have to be for that eventuality”.
Sheerin’s primary focus is on steering Killie to three successive top-flight wins for the first time since October 2020, though, and while “the last couple of results have been pleasing”, he is “fully aware the job isn’t done” in their bid to avoid the drop.
© Imago
Dundee still have work to do in order to secure their top-flight status for a third straight season and an inconsistent run of form, alternating between defeat and victory in their last six league matches, has not helped their cause.
A week after claiming a slender 1-0 away win over Hearts, the Dark Blues were seemingly on course to collect another three points as they were leading by one goal heading into the final half-hour of last weekend’s clash with Motherwell, but goals from Tom Sparrow and Tawanda Maswanhise turned the contest on its head, the latter of whom netted a 91st-minute winner for the Steelmen.
With Dundee sitting 10th in the table and just two points above the relegation playoff position, manager Tony Docherty has urged his players to rediscover the “resilience” they have shown throughout the season to bounce back from a game “we should never have lost”.
Dundee have now dropped more points from winning positions (26) than any other Scottish Premiership side this season, while no team has recovered more from losing positions in the division this term than Kilmarnock (13, level with Rangers and Hibernian).
The Dark Blues travel to Perth this weekend having won two of their last three away league games, but they are winless in their last five top-flight visits to Kilmarnock (D3 L2) since a 1-0 victory in May 2017.
Team News
© Imago
Sheerin has confirmed that Joe Wright and Bradley Lyons have both returned to training after spells out with injuries and will be “50-50” for Saturday’s contest, while Kyle Magennis will return to training on Friday, but whether he will be involved against Dundee remains to be seen.
Teenage starlet Bobby Wales, who is out of contract this summer, has “earned the opportunity to move on” according to Sheerin, and while his long-term future at the club remains uncertain, the forward is expected to start again alongside top scorer Bruce Anderson, who has 10 goals to his name this season.
As for Dundee, Docherty is unlikely to make too many changes, if any, to his starting lineup, with Ryan Astley, Joe Shaughnessy, Clark Robertson and Ziyad Larkeche all set to continue in the back four as Antonio Portales, Josh Mulligan and Lyall Cameron link arms in midfield.
Simon Murray, who has been nominated for the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year award, leads the Scottish Premiership scoring chart, along with Celtic’s Daizen Maeda, on 16 goals and is expected to start again as the central striker.
Kilmarnock possible starting lineup:
O’Hara; Mayo, Deas, Findlay, Ndaba; Armstrong, Donnelly, Watson, Murray; Wales, Anderson
Dundee possible starting lineup:
Carson; Astley, Shaughnessy, Robertson, Larkeche; Mulligan, Portales, Cameron; Tiffoney, Murray, Adewumi
We say: Kilmarnock 2-1 Dundee
A closely-contested battle is set to be played out in Perth and while Dundee will once again rely on the prolific form of Murray in attack, we are backing Kilmarnock to build on their recent upturn in form and collect maximum points to all but guarantee their survival, with or without McInnes in the dugout.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
