Heart of Midlothian set-piece strength meets Kilmarnock's home woes

Heart of Midlothian travel to Kilmarnock with the league's best set-piece scoring record, facing a side that has lost all three of its home games this season and conceded the most goals from dead-ball situations.

Heart of Midlothian's strong set-piece ability will meet the division's most porous defence in that area when they play a Kilmarnock team in poor form. The match at Rugby Park sees the top set-piece attacking team face the weakest set-piece defending team, with recent results for both clubs heightening the stakes.

A tale of two trends

Heart of Midlothian, managed by Steven Naismith, have netted the most goals from set plays, not counting penalties, in the league this campaign. This advantage hits a specific flaw in Kilmarnock, as Derek McInnes's squad has allowed the highest number of non-penalty set-piece goals. This contrast comes with Heart of Midlothian positioned third, holding a points total from their opening matches, as they try to reduce the distance to the top side Celtic.

A difficult away venue

Past results indicate a challenging task for the away team. Heart of Midlothian have been victorious in only a small fraction of their last ten league visits to Kilmarnock, with several draws and defeats. The previous half-dozen clashes at this ground have been low-scoring affairs, with a limited total of goals and one side failing to register a goal in each instance. Kilmarnock took the points in the last match there and could now achieve consecutive home victories against Heart of Midlothian for the first time in several years.

Kilmarnock's home struggles

The home team, sitting at the bottom of the table, have been defeated in each of their league matches at their own stadium this term. They risk matching a negative run of home losses last experienced some years ago. Their most recent extended sequence of home defeats occurred in the past. Heart of Midlothian will miss a number of important squad members for the journey, including Ageu, Blair Spittal, and Craig Halkett, with details on our injuries page. The game starts on Saturday, with Heart of Midlothian hoping to use their set-play skill to better a disappointing record on the road in Ayrshire and stay high in the standings.

This story first appeared at bbc.com