Stephen Robinson expects a difficult task at McDiarmid Park when he takes his Saints side to face St Johnstone in the William Hill Premiership.
The manager praised opposition number Simo Valakari who took over at the Perth side in October and admitted he anticipates a tight match against a good opponent.
"I think they are a really good side," he told the media this morning.
"I've watched a lot of their games and they've played a 4-4-2 diamond which causes a lot of problems tactically as well and I believe Simo is putting his own stamp on the football club now.
It'll be a really tough game. There's nothing between the teams. It's a hard place to go to and to go up to Perth and get a result would be a big bonus for us."
Squad Update
Saints will be without Alex Gogic through suspension, while Charles Dunne remains unavailable with a hamstring injury.
Giving an update on the squad at today's press conference, the manager added: "Fully fit bar Charles who's still obviously not ready to go, but people are getting closer to full match fitness so a fully fit squad to pick from.
"It'll be somewhere in and around the Christmas period. It's an injury you've got to be very careful so we don't expect him to be available until the end of December.
We've got Alex Iacovitti coming back to full fitness so that's a big plus for us. Alex gives you that aggression and leadership and is a real organiser.
"He's a wee bit old school, you need a variation and we feel when he's fully fit he'll provide that. He might have to be thrown in long before he's firing on all cylinders with our injury situation and suspensions."
Watch in full
The manager's full press conference is available to view now on St Mirren TV.
