Kilmarnock

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• Along with Celtic, Ross County are one of two sides to win all three of their Scottish Premiership games against Kilmarnock this season; the last team to beat Killie four times in a single top-fight campaign were Rangers in 2010-11.

• In their top-fight history, Ross County have never beaten a particular opponent four times within the same campaign.

• Kilmarnock have only won one of their past seven league games (D1 L5), although that was their last at home, beating Motherwell 2-0. Indeed, a league-high 74% of their points in the Scottish Premiership this season have come at home (26/35).

• Ross County have lost their past four league games – the longest ongoing losing run in the Scottish Premiership this season. The Staggies last lost more in a row in August 2022 (six), and last did so within a single season in December 2020 (six).

• Ronan Hale has scored nine league goals this season and could become only the sixth player to score 10+ in a top-fight campaign for Ross County, after Liam Boyce (three times), Alex Schalk (2017-18), Regan Charles-Cook (2021-22), Jordan White (2022-23), and Simon Murray (2023-24).

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Kyle Vassell and Kilmarnock are "definitely in the right place" over talks to extend the captain's stay at Rugby Park.

The 32-year-old striker remains a key part of Derek McInnes' squad, despite not featuring since early January because of injury issues.

But the forward is determined to make an impact on the survival push and is keen to remain at Rugby Park beyond this season, although he admits his future could hinge on what division the club are in.

"The club want me to stay and I would like to stay," said Vassell, whose current deal expires this summer.

"I have just said to the club, 'I just want to get fully fit, I want to get on the pitch first and then we will take care of everything else'.

"I would say [there's a] verbal [agreement]. It's not a written agreement because I haven't signed a contract, but we are definitely in the right place.

"My kids were born in Kilmarnock, we have roots here technically now, I have really enjoyed my time here. I could definitely play the rest of my good days here.

"I would probably say my future somewhat [depends on survival], although I have no doubts that Kilmarnock will be in the top flight next season."

On his current fitness situation, Vassell, who scored 11 goals last term but has netted just three times this season, added: "It's been a tough couple of months, but I'm heading in the right direction.

"I'm still not full match sharp, that will come, but I'm looking forward to the run-in.

"[Being out has been] Really hard, especially being captain, you feel like you are letting the team down, letting the club down, but it's part of football and you can't think like that."

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

How many times have you heard a relegation-threatened manager talk about the need to hit the coveted 40-point mark?

Well, the truth is, no Scottish Premiership team has ever required that total to avoid the bottom two since the play-offs were brought back more than a decade ago.

However, that is projected to change this season.

Based on current points-per-game averages, 11th-placed Dundee are set to end on a total of 39, meaning 40 could be the magic number to guarantee safety.

If that is the case, that would mark the highest tally required to ensure survival in Scotland's top tier since 38-game seasons were reintroduced in the 2000-01 campaign.

That would also mean Hearts are effectively safe, given they are already on 40 points and four teams would need to make up ground on them, while eighth-placed Motherwell would need just a single point from five post-split games.

With Kilmarnock in ninth and Ross County in tenth both currently on 35, which is just one more than Dundee's 34, the fight to avoid 11th is clearly likelier to be between those three.

But that is not set in stone. The nature of the split means each team in the bottom half will face the other before the end of the campaign, so there is scope for points-per-game averages to fluctuate.

And what does all of this mean for St Johnstone? Well, the 33 points Simo Valakari's side are projected to finish on would be the highest for a bottom-placed team in the Premiership since 2017.

That would be no consolation for the Perth club if they go down, but that is certainly not guaranteed to happen just yet.

However, they have a real fight on their hands to make up a five-point gap while improving their inferior goal difference.

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With five games left of the league season, Kilmarnock fans are understandably worried about their team's survival chances.

Derek McInnes' side have won only one of their past seven matches and are just one point above Dundee in the Scottish Premiership relegation play-off spot.

They have shipped 17 goals in that time and must find a way to arrest that slide as they prepare to face the other bottom six clubs before the end of the season.

Given the tight nature of the league, it is more than feasible the relegation battle will come down to the final day of the season.

Killie host Hearts that day - the team in the bottom half with by far the largest budget and the team most in the bottom half wanted to avoid when the league split last weekend.

McInnes and the club's fanbase will obviously hope to have secured safety before the final day, but if they haven't and need a win against the Tynecastle club, they can take heart from two of the other three meetings this term.

Killie won 1-0 at Rugby Park in December despite Robbie Deas' early red card and came from a goal down to win at Tynecastle in October.

Matty Kennedy and Kyle Vassell scored in the space of five second-half minutes to secure all three points.

They may well need to find a third win over the Jambos if they are to avoid the dreaded relegation play-off.

Sandy Armour
Fan writer

Our last pre-split game went very much like most of our away performances this season with a shambolic display and a predictable defeat at Celtic.

The possession and passing stats were totally embarrassing especially when you consider we gave them a decent game in the Scottish Cup three months ago.

Our focus is now on the upcoming five cup finals and with three games at home there can be no more feeble excuses.

Our previous home game against Motherwell provided a solid showing and a welcome three points. We need to replicate that as we simply cannot expect anything away from home as our record on the road is horrendous.

There is plenty of unrest among the fans around the manager but that needs to be parked for now.

I'd ask all Killie fans to make a special effort to get to the Theatre of Pies and play your part in helping us secure our Premiership survival.

The club should be congratulated on freezing the season ticket prices for next season. Once again we are running our 'Growing the Killie Family' initiative to help deserving families get a family ticket when they otherwise wouldn't be able to do so.

If you would like to nominate a family or donate a ticket please email me at killiehippo@aol.com.

Sandy Armour is editor of the Killie Hippo fanzine.

• Kilmarnock v Ross County - Saturday, 26 April 2025

• St Johnstone v Kilmarnock - Saturday, 3 May 2025

• Kilmarnock v Dundee - Saturday, 10 May 2025

• Motherwell v Kilmarnock - Wednesday, 14 May 2025

• Kilmarnock v Hearts - Sunday, 18 May 2025

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Watch the pick of the action from Celtic Park as Brendan Rodgers' side move within touching distance of the title by beating Kilmarnock 5-1. (Available to UK users only)

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Kilmarnock midfielder Brad Lyons insists the Ayrshire club deserve their place in the Premiership as they prepare for a bottom-six relegation battle in the season run-in.

Every club finishing below the top six has a chance of being pulled into a race to avoid demotion, with Derek McInnes looking for his side to recover from a bruising experience against champions-elect Celtic.

A blistering first-half goal spree ended the contest as Brendan Rodgers' side ran out 5-1 winners.

"Kilmarnock is a big, massive club," Lyons told BBC Scotland.

"We deserve to stay in the Premiership, but we have to do that, and especially the last five games this season, we need to stick together.

"No one's blaming anyone. We're a team. We do everything together. It's good team spirit, and we look after our job on the training pitch and then and on a Saturday."

Goal difference could be significant with teams bunched so tightly in the table. And at one stage at Celtic Park it looked like an extremely damaging experience on that front, but a more stoic approach limited that.

"As a team, we need to be more organised," Lyons added.

"You need more than good players. You need a good team spirit, especially at these times. Fans will put pressure on you.

"There's a lot of learning, but it's done now. There's a big focus on the next five games. We want to win as many as possible, finish as high as possible."

We asked for your views on Kilmarnock's 5-1 defeat at Celtic.

Here is what some of you said:

Dugald: Same story. No shape. No strategy. Derek McInnes always seems to be found wanting for a clear idea of what type of formation he wants and fails to convey one to his (limited ability) players.

Amy: Always on a hiding to nothing against a Celtic side looking for a response. Couple of unstoppable goals, but we can take heart from most of the second-half performance. Most importantly, though, none of our rivals at the bottom gained any ground on us. Fancy us to win enough post-split to be safe.

Anna: That was the most abject, gutless performance I've ever seen as a Killie fan. We just rolled over and lay down before Celtic. One up front does not work, and neither does replacing a midfielder with a defender when we needed goals. I may be wrong, but it seems like McInnes is doing his best to get us relegated. At this rate, we'll be lucky to avoid 11th and now having Hearts and Motherwell in the bottom six things have got that much tougher.

Robert: This was never going to be a win. The problem is the goal difference. We have five games to go. Time to look upon them as a new league campaign we wish to win.

Andrew: There are so many reasons for Kilmarnock performing so badly this season. These include poor and inconsistent team selection, regular changes between back three or back four, goalkeeper weaknesses, red cards, players playing out of position, injuries to key players, poor substitutions (and usually too late to make a difference), players not good enough e.g. Donnelly, Cameron, Polworth continually being selected, whilst others don't get the opportunity e.g. Mackay-Steven and Ramsay.

We now have five cup finals to go. Team selection, back four, strong midfield and our best strikers will be needed to avoid relegation.

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• Celtic have scored 23 goals in the last 15 minutes of the second half, more than any other team in the Premiership this season.

• Kilmarnock have conceded nine goals to opposition substitutes in the Premiership this season, only Dundee (14) and St Johnstone (11) have conceded more.

• Cameron Carter-Vickers attempted 192 passes in this game, the highest total for a player in the Premiership this season.

• Celtic attempted 1,025 passes in this game, the highest total by any team in a single match in the Premiership this season.

• Daizen Maeda has scored 16 goals in the Premiership this season (one in this game), more than any other player.

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Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes: "Celtic started like a train and put us to the sword with their movement. When they are like that you think, 'how can they lose games in the Premiership?'.

"Second half, we put a team out to stop the bleeding. We forced Celtic back the way. There was far more shape about us. The players worked hard. It wasn't easy for them going out second half.

"We'll dust ourselves down from that. We've got to bounce back into work. Every bottom-six team is in a fight, we've got to make sure we win those fights. Today wasn't a fight we needed to win."

Were you at Celtic Park or following the match elsewhere?

Either way, we want your views on the game - have your say here.

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter at Celtic Park

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The fight really begins for Kilmarnock and every side in the bottom six now in the five post-split fixtures.

The Rugby Park side have not won away to Celtic since 2012 and ending that run was always unlikely. Within 10 minutes it was a crisis management exercise in damage limitation.

Kilmarnock barely had the ball, couldn't get away from their box and very rarely got over halfway. It was the sort of afternoon no footballer wants to experience, never mind fans.

Goal difference may prove crucial - second-bottom Dundee are just a point behind before facing Hibernian on Sunday - and the second half game-management may prove helpful.

You look at this Kilmarnock squad and think they should have enough to avoid trouble, but they are right in it as things stand.

This was an afternoon they'll want to forget, regroup and get on with the job in hand.

The Scottish FA key match incident panel has not backed the decision to overturn 24-year-old Motherwell defender Kofi Balmer's red card against Kilmarnock. (Scotsman - subscription required), external

Read Saturday's Scottish gossip

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Celtic winger Yang Hyun-Jun will miss several weeks with an elbow injury, while Kasper Schmeichel remains out with a shoulder injury.

Kilmarnock will be missing Rory McKenzie (thigh) but Lewis Mayo has a chance of shaking off a knee injury. Kyle Vassell was back on the bench last week and ready to feature, while Tom Wilson-Brown is a doubt.

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

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Killie's Fraser Murray says taking more risks has helped him pitch in with recent goals for the Rugby Park side.

The wide player, sometimes deployed in a wingback or winger role, had not scored in 18 months before netting against Hearts in January, but he now has four goals across his last nine matches for Derek McInnes' side.

"I have been trying to add that to my game," the 25-year-old said.

"The manager spoke to me and wanted me to try to add some more goals, and thankfully, the last few weeks, I have managed to get a few.

"Being a wide player, sometimes wide players can often get caught not being in the box or just staying out of the box, waiting on the ball.

"So I've just been gambling more and making sure I'm in the box in the right positions."

With Killie still very much in the relegation fight, every goal matters. Murray's contributions have been timely, too.

He scored a late equaliser against his former club Hibs, scored the second goal in a 3-1 win over St Johnstone, and then struck the first goal in last Saturday's 2-0 win against Motherwell.

He added: "Obviously, the goal against Hibs came at a perfect time and the goal on Saturday gave us the confidence to kick on in the game.

"The next six games, hopefully, I will add more goals and help the team."

Despite being six points clear of the bottom side St Johnstone, they're only one point above the relegation playoff spot. Murray wants his team-mates to keep fighting for a result this weekend, despite visiting the runaway league leaders Celtic on Saturday.

"I don't think the pressure's off," he said, looking ahead to facing Celtic.

"It would be silly of us to go into any game thinking that we can't win it.

"We've had a good week training, so we will all be going into the game hoping we can get something from it, and we'll obviously be going there and trying to do the best we can."

Celtic could still win a 13th Scottish top-flight title in 14 seasons this weekend, despite their shock defeat away to St Johnstone last Sunday.

Victory at home against Kilmarnock on Saturday would be sufficient to confirm the arithmetic should Rangers lose at Aberdeen the following day.

The Ibrox side are almost certain to clinch the second Champions League place, but four points from their final six matches would confirm it.

Whoever finishes third and fourth will also be in Europe, as will the division's fifth-placed side should the Scottish Cup winners be one of the Premiership's top four.

The fight for the final top-six place will go to the final game before the split, with one of Hearts, Motherwell or St Mirren claiming it.

Hearts visit Fir Park one point in front of their hosts and the Paisley side, who take on Ross County.

The two teams missing out could yet be sucked into a relegation battle.

Bottom side St Johnstone are now five adrift of Dundee and six behind Kilmarnock and Ross County. Motherwell and St Mirren are a further three points ahead.

With the teams all playing each other again post-split, there is still plenty scope for movement between now and 18 May.

Killie fans, with the final top-six and bottom-six spots yet to be decided, we asked who you'd most like to avoid in the split.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Gio: At home, none of the three but Motherwell away can be a dour game at times.

Anon: I don't fear any of the sides in the bottom six. We are all as bad/good as each other. Killie in top gear at Rugby Park will probably beat any of the others. St Mirren will probably be looking at Killie, wondering if last week's score could end up reversed.

Frank: Nobody. Looks like we are back in contention to be top of the bottom six.

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Kilmarnock have been handed a boost by the news that Rory McKenzie's injury is not as bad as first feared.

The midfielder went off with a thigh issue against Motherwell last weekend in his first start since August.

However, a positive diagnosis comes as a "godsend" for manager Derek McInnes before their Premiership match against Celtic on Saturday.

"Rory is probably going to miss Saturday's game," McInnes said. "He's got a slight tear in his thigh. Thankfully, it's not as bad as we'd thought.

"Initially, after the game last Saturday, we were fearing the worst with it, but we've been treating that as a grade one, which is normally 10 to 16 days. So hopefully he'll just miss the one game, which has been a bit of a godsend for us."

Defender Lewis Mayo is also a doubt, but has a chance of featuring against the league leaders.

"He's not trained with the squad this week," McInnes said. "He's done a lot of work with the physio so we're just trying to limit the impact on his knee but we're hoping he's fine for the weekend."

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• Celtic have only lost one of their past 18 league games against Kilmarnock (W15 D2), a 1-2 defeat away from home in December 2023.

• In all competitions, Kilmarnock have only won one of their past 85 away games against Celtic (D18 L66), winning 2-0 in October 2012 under Kenny Shiels.

• Celtic have lost three of their past six league games (W3), more than their previous 46 beforehand (W38 D6 L2). The Hoops could lose successive league fixtures for the first time since December 2023 – one of which was against Kilmarnock (1-2).

• Kilmarnock have picked up just nine points in their 16 away league games this season (W2 D3 L11), the fewest of any Scottish Premiership side. Killie are winless in their last 10 on the road in the competition (D2 L8), losing their last five.

• Kilmarnock's Fraser Murray has scored two goals in his past three Scottish Premiership appearances, as many as his previous 73 beforehand.