📏 Form Guide

Derry City

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Derry City will be hoping to bounce back here after the 1-3 Premier Division defeat last time out to Shamrock Rovers.

In that match, Derry City managed 45% possession and 11 attempts at goal with 6 on target. The only player on the scoresheet for Derry City was Patrick Hoban (87'). At the other end, Shamrock Rovers had 10 attempts at goal with 8 of them on target. Aaron Greene (56', 62') and Richie Towell (69') scored for Shamrock Rovers.

Ruaidhrí Higgins's Derry City have hit the target a sum total of 7 times over their prior six outings. Conversely, the tally of goals that have been scored against them in those games is 6.

Going into this encounter, Derry City haven't been beaten in the league by St. Patrick's Athletic in their previous 2 matches.

St. Patrick's Athletic

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In their last game, St. Patrick's Athletic drew 1-1 in the Premier Division match with Waterford.

In that game, St. Patrick's Athletic had 60% possession and 13 shots on goal with 2 on target. The only player on the scoresheet for St. Patrick's Athletic was Brandon Kavanagh (65'). Waterford had 9 shots at goal with 2 of them on target. Maleace Asamoah (13') was the scorer for Waterford.

A series of dependable displays from the St. Patrick's Athletic defenders has resulted in their ‘goals against’ tally standing at 4 from their previous 6 fixtures combined. Over that same period, their own forwards have managed to score 6. That kind of trend might not be sustained into this next game, however.

Leading up to this clash, St. Patrick's Athletic:

• have left without a victory over Derry City when they have played them away from home in the previous 8 league games. A really bad run.
• have not been beaten in their last 2 away league matches.
• are without an away win for the past 4 matches in the league.

↔️ Head to head

A glance at their past head to head meetings going back to 17/02/2023 tells us that Derry City have won 3 of these games & St. Patrick's Athletic 1, with the tally of drawn results being 2.

A sum of 15 goals were shared by the two clubs in these games, with 9 of them for The Candystripes and 6 for Saints. That’s an average goals per game of 2.5.

ℹ️ Team News: Derry City

Colm Whelan (Cruciate ligament injury) and Sadou Diallo (Knee injury) are not available for Derry City boss Ruaidhrí Higgins.

It looks as if The Candystripes could employ a 4-2-3-1 formation for the game, handing starts to Brian Maher, Ronan Boyce, Mark Connolly, Shane McEleney, Cameron McJannett, Adam O'Reilly, Ben Doherty, Will Patching, Paul McMullan, Michael Duffy and Danny Mullen.

🗞️ Team News: St. Patrick's Athletic

In an otherwise full-strength group of players, there’s only the lone fitness worry for the St. Patrick's Athletic manager Jon Daly to be concerned about. Tom Grivosti (Cruciate ligament injury) won’t be playing here.

There’s a good chance that Saints might begin the game with a 4-2-3-1 system by sending out Daniel Rogers, Luke Turner, Joe Redmond, Conor Keeley, Anto Breslin, Jamie Lennon, Aaron Bolger, Alex Nolan, Kian Leavy, Brandon Kavanagh and Mason Melia.

💡 Prediction

Our assessment is that St. Patrick's Athletic certainly have the ability to score a goal against this Derry City team, although that is unlikely to be enough to avoid defeat.

We’re predicting a close game with a 2-1 winning margin for Derry City at the end of this one. Let’s see what happens here.

Our expert partners are tipping over 1.5 goals for this match. Check out their VIP predictions here.

Peter Guest, 18:01 22/04/2024