St Johnstone are one of Scottish football’s older fixtures, founded in 1884 and long established at McDiarmid Park. They are currently setting the pace in the Championship, sitting in first place with the sort of numbers that suggest more than a brief run of form.
Their recent league sequence is clean and persuasive: five wins after a draw with Queen’s Park, including a 4-0 home win over Airdrieonians and away victories at Ayr United, Dunfermline Athletic and Arbroath. At home, they are averaging 2.1 goals scored and just 0.6 conceded per match, which points to a side with both control and a reliable edge.
There is enough threat away from Perth as well, with 1.7 goals per match on the road. Josh McPake has led the scoring with 19 goals, closely followed by Jamie Gullan on 17, while Adama Sidibeh, Reece McAlear and Ruari Paton have added useful secondary output.
The squad is listed at 25 players with an average age of 25, and is valued at around £3.5m by Transfermarkt. St Johnstone have also featured in the League Cup second round and reached the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
For Celtic supporters, St Johnstone remain a familiar Scottish opponent with current momentum, a strong Championship position and a balanced domestic profile rather than a side trading on reputation alone.
📈 Key stats and insights
⚔️ How they compare to Celtic
For Celtic supporters, the obvious point is that St Johnstone look dominant only within their own league context. Relative to their peers they are doing what Celtic usually try to do in the Premiership: score the most, concede the least and remove the home-away split as a genuine weakness. The difference, of course, is the level of opposition, but the underlying shape is still useful warning material because this is not a side built on a hot streak alone; it is a side with the division's strongest attacking and defensive profile.
