Ross County will be hopeful of securing their first points of the Premiership season when they host Kilmarnock on Saturday.
The Staggies are aiming to ignite their campaign, having opened with three losses so far.
Although they received plaudits for their displays in their difficult two opening fixtures against Hearts and Celtic, Saturday’s 1-0 away loss to St Mirren came as a big disappointment.
They have netted two goals from their opening three matches, with Jordan White’s consolation in the 2-1 loss to Hearts followed by an Alex Iacovitti header from a corner in the defeat to Celtic.
We take a look at where the Staggies’ goals are most likely to come from in the months ahead, based on what we have seen over the last three weeks.
Edwards a key creative outlet for County
One man who has undoubtedly caught the eye in the opening weeks of the season is Owura Edwards.
The on-loan Bristol City winger has a rapid turn of pace and has offered a strong indication he will be a dangerous outlet for the Staggies this season.
The five chances Edwards has created so far this term ranks him significantly higher than any of his County team-mates.
Among those is an assist, with his corner setting up Iacovitti’s goal in the eventual loss against the Hoops. He also has the highest tally of expected assists.
For expected goals, Edwards is ranked third in Ross County’s standings with an xG rating of 0.28.
He has recorded three shots, one of them on target, while he has also hit the woodwork on the other two occasions.
As outlined above, it is Josh Sims who has County’s highest xG with 0.85.
That appears largely down to his chance on the opening day against the Jambos, when he was unable to turn home the rebound after Dominic Samuel had hit the post with a header.
As shown in the graphic below, that opportunity has had a higher xG than any other County chance this term – even the Staggies’ two goals.
Jordan White also features highly among the xG stats, sitting second behind Sims with a rating of 0.33.
Forward White has also netted one goal from only two shots at goal, from three substitute appearances so far.
County will be intent on finding more dangerous areas
As the xG graphic above shows, however, the Staggies across the board have a low xG of 0.1 per shot.
The high standard of opposition they faced in their opening two matches in particular must clearly be taken into consideration.
Nevertheless, Malky Mackay will be eager to see his side get into some more dangerous shooting positions when Killie make the trip north this weekend.
In the wake of his side’s defeat in Paisley, Mackay urged his side to “gamble” more often in pursuit of better goalscoring opportunities.
While the players Mackay has selected from the start have shown promise in the early matches, the Staggies boss has the luxury of options to pick from should he wish to freshen things up.
Yan Dhanda has yet to start a league match, but has already completed 17 passes which have ended in the final third- and in only two substitute appearances totalling 39 minutes.
Kazeem Olaigbe has also looked lively off the bench, forcing a fine reflex save from Buddies goalkeeper Trevor Carson during the latter stages of Saturday’s match.
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