Falkirk are all but secure in the top six as they prepare to welcome St Mirren for their 31st Premiership clash of the season on Saturday. Saints are in the teeth of the relegation battle, lying 10th in the league on 24 points. John McGlynn’s side, meanwhile, have 43.

St Mirren Form Guide

Using the Falkirk v St Mirren Match Stats on Andy’s Bet Club, the thing that immediately jumps out is Saints’ dreadful away record. From 15 road trips this season, they have secured only one win, while they have lost on 10 occasions. They have conceded an enormous 30 times on their travels, nearly twice the 16 they have at home.

1-0 Loss vs Rangers (H) – Premiership

2-1 Win vs Partick Thistle (H) – Scottish Cup

2-1 Loss vs Dundee United (A) – Premiership

1-1 Draw vs Livingston (A) – Premiership

5-0 Loss vs Motherwell (H) – Premiership

St Mirren’s Recent League Matches:

St Mirren vs Rangers

St Mirren went into last weekend’s clash with in-form Rangers having recently lost their manager, and having suffered a string of injury blows leading up to the game, including key wing-back Declan John being ruled out.

In the first match in charge under interim bosses Craig McLeish and Jamie Langfield, they unsurprisingly opted to change very little about the approach, given they had a matter of days to lead the team. It was, therefore, the familiar 3-5-2 system that was used, albeit the starting XI was reshuffled due to selection issues.

As an attacking threat, Saints offered very little. Their tally of six shots was the joint lowest they have produced in a home game this season, while their 0.35xG is the smallest figure they have produced since their trip to Celtic on the opening day of the season.

Nevertheless, attempts were made to threaten their opponents late on as they shifted into a slightly more attacking 3-4-1-2 shape, which allowed them to dominate possession in the closing 30 minutes of the game. Indeed, they had a greater share of the ball after going 1-0 down, yet doing anything with it was their issue.

Saints were more passive than usual out of possession, allowing 14.52 PPDA, but with the ball they were notably less direct, with 12.2% of long passes the lowest figure they have posted in their last eight league matches, suggesting they are more willing to play short. Indeed, their average pass length of 18.33m is the lowest they have posted in a league game all season and well below their 20.98m average.

Dundee United vs St Mirren

Stephen Robinson’s final league match in charge of Saints was a trip to Dundee United on a very difficult Tannadice surface. The style of play they employed in the City of Discovery was geared towards the tough conditions, with 26.3% of their passes going long – a high figure for the season and the first time since early December they had been over 20% in this particular statistic.

The Paisley side coped with the difficult conditions relatively well and were able to post a total of 1.26xG, which is in line with their season average in the league of 1.29. With nine shots, they were not far from their average of 10.67.

St Mirren primarily sought to attack down the wings, though they were overwhelmingly more successful raiding down the right. While their 11 attacks down the left failed to produce a single shot, going down the right yielded 54% of their xG for the match.

Despite focusing their attacks from the wide areas, Saints did not necessarily get an abnormal number of crosses into the box. With 17 deliveries, this was slightly below their typical figure of 18.93, while just 17.7% were accurate – almost half their 33.1% average.

Indeed, they struggled defensively, giving up 14 shots – more than the 11.67 they typically concede. Saints were also forced to make 38 clearances – almost double the 19.97 they have completed on average this season, underlining the pressure they came under.

St Mirren’s One to Watch:

Miguel Freckleton: Solidarity at the back will be crucial for Saints in this match, and centre-back Freckleton is one man who can provide this. He is also important in the team’s build-up, posting a club-high 40.4 accurate passes per match and 3.3 accurate long balls. 

In addition, he also posts three goals – joint second among his team. This threat could be vital when it comes to try to find a route to Falkirk’s net for a limited attacking side.

Final Thoughts:

St Mirren were a side struggling even before the unexpected departure of Stephen Robinson to Aberdeen last week. This, after all, is a side that has only won once in the league since Christmas and has only scored two goals in their last five league matches.

Interim manager Craig McLeish has shown little appetite to shake things up in the short term. He adopted a very similar approach to Robinson last week, and that is likely to be the way that his injury-hit squad head into this game.

For all that Saints try to rid themselves of the tag of being a long-ball team, they play more of these passes, with 51.78 per 90 minutes than any team in the league – with the exception of Falkirk (52.49). This could, therefore, be a game that pings from one end to the other very quickly.

One area they do try to exploit is crosses. With 17.45 each game, only Celtic get the ball into the box from the wide areas more. Saints are actually rather successful at it, too. With 33.1% completion, they stand above the league average of 32.6%, though their total of 54 headed efforts is actually below the norm of 56.6.

Accuracy is something the Paisley club have been lacking. With 9.83 shots per 90, they rank 8th in terms of shots, with just seven efforts fewer than the Bairns. Only 31.9% of their efforts have hit the target, though. This is the poorest figure in the league – and by a margin. With a raft of frontline attackers set to miss this match, McLeish is therefore not without his problems as Saints try to avoid being dragged further into trouble.

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