St Mirren

Attack is the central issue. St Mirren score fewer goals than anyone else in the league, sitting below even sides such as Dundee, while Celtic are miles clear at the top by comparison. Defensively they are not among the very worst, with Livingston and others conceding more freely, but seventh for goals against is only respectable in a limited sense because it gives them little margin for error; when you score this rarely, even an average defensive record leaves you exposed.

There is enough here to call St Mirren combative rather than reckless. They take slightly more yellow cards at home and their red-card rate is also a little higher there, which suggests a more aggressive edge in home matches, perhaps because they spend more time trying to disrupt games they cannot control with the ball. It is notable without being extreme.

St Mirren's ceiling has been modest all season: their biggest win, home or away, is only 2-0, so there is little evidence of a side capable of overwhelming opponents. Their floor, though, can drop sharply, with a 5-0 home defeat showing how badly things can unravel when a game turns against them. Put simply, they can edge matches when everything aligns, but they rarely dominate and they are vulnerable to heavy punishment when the structure breaks.

St Mirren's corner numbers are relatively steady home and away, which suggests there is no dramatic stylistic split in how they create pressure. They win a fair amount without it translating into goals, and they also concede slightly more corners on the road, which fits a team that can be pushed back for longer spells away from home. The interesting point is not volume but inefficiency: they generate enough set-piece situations to be more dangerous than their scoring rank suggests.