Ross County vs Hearts Prediction: Visiting expected to get the edge

When Ross County welcome Hearts to the Global Energy Stadium for Saturday's Scottish Premiership meeting, the home team will be looking to snap a winless streak that now stands at three games across all competitions. The away team, meanwhile, is looking to extend their winning streak to two games after claiming victory in the Scottish League Cup during the previous week.

After preserving their top-tier status with a victory in the relegation playoff on penalties, Ross County will take heart from the strong start they have made to the Scottish Premiership season. They won two of their first four matches, including ones against St. Johnstone and Kilmarnock, and added to their point total by playing Livingston to a 1-1 draw. Overall, they earned six points in their first four matches. Unfortunately, Aberdeen defeated Malkay Mackay's team last weekend in a game that ended with a score of 4-0, which was their worst defeat of the current campaign. They were unable to revenge that loss in Wednesday's Scottish League Cup quarter-final against the same opponent, losing to a 2-1 defeat after playing the bulk of the battle with 10 men after Jack Baldwin was sent off for a red card. Despite playing with 10 men for the duration of the match, they were unable to avenge the previous loss. Ross County, who are now in seventh position, will shift their focus to Saturday's matchup, in which they will try to beat Hearts for the first time since March of 2017.

Hearts have gotten off to a shaky start in the Scottish Premiership, winning two games, drawing one game, and losing three of their first six matches. After winning their first two matches and collecting four points, Steven Naismith's team was knocked off their stride by back-to-back 1-0 defeats at the hands of Dundee and Motherwell. However, they were able to get back on track by claiming a 2-0 triumph over Aberdeen at home. They were given the opportunity to follow that success with another victory, but they failed to capitalize on it by suffering a heartbreaking 1-0 loss on the road against St. Mirren last weekend. As a result, they are currently in sixth place and tied on seven points with the team that they will face on Saturday. In contrast to Ross County, the Jambos had a productive outing in the Scottish League Cup in the middle of the week. Alex Lowry scored the game-winning goal in the final minute of stoppage time to lead his club to a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock, which clinched their spot in the semi-finals for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

Ross County possible starting lineup:

Laidlaw; Nightingale, Leak, Harmon; Brown, Randall, Turner, Reid; Dhanda; Murray, White

Hearts possible starting lineup:

Clark; Sibbick, Kent, Rowles, Kingsley; Nieuwenhof, Devlin; Grant, Boyce, Vargas; Shankland

In spite of the fact that Hearts have struggled to maintain consistency in the Scottish Premiership, they will bring some momentum into Saturday's game as a result of their thrilling victory in the Scottish League Cup. We believe that the guests will follow that result by claiming all three points against a team that they have defeated in each of their previous three encounters.