St Johnstone play their rearranged league game against Hibs tonight with Kevin Moon back but without Filipe Morais and Peter MacDonald.. Moon will feature in the squad providing there is no reaction in training to his recent hamstring injury but Morais (ankle) is out although he is hopeful of being fit for Saturday's game with Rangers. Striker MacDonald was due to see a specialist today about a knee injury that looks set to keep him out for a few weeks. Stuart McCaffrey (groin) and Martin Hardie (knee) remain out of action, and captain Kevin Rutkiewicz (knee) will need more friendly games before making his comeback to the first team.

Saints manager Derek McInnes has refused to use his side’s hectic schedule as an excuse for their recent run of poor results. After the big freeze left Saints without any first-team football for more than three weeks, they are now on the verge of completing a sequence of 10 games in just 34 days. McInnes acknowledged the current period has been his side's toughest since they were promoted to the SPL last summer. But despite them having won only one in seven in all competitions, he is confident his players can make home advantage count when they play the ninth game of their 10-game sequence.

McInnes said: "It's been pretty hectic and full-on. Normally your team selection will be based on the opposition that you're playing and the current form of the players. But you're also thinking about other issues now, like the fatigue side of it, who's fit enough to play three games a week and all the rest of it. A lot of other issues come into it when you're picking a team. Ideally, you'd just make your plans from Saturday to Saturday. But we were kicking our heels for three and a half weeks with no games, so I'd rather have it this way. There's a strain on the squad and we've had a few injuries but I think the squad's good enough to cope with it. That'll be no reason for losing games, the type of schedule we've got. The boys will be ready to play and we hope we can make the home advantage count."

Hibs manager John Hughes has urged Abdessalam Benjelloun to make it impossible to let him leave as he considers whether to extend his contract. Morocco foward Benjelloun is now the highest-profile Hibs player without a deal beyond the summer after Ian Murray signed a two-year extension on Monday. Benjelloun's near-four-year spell with Hibs has been one of frustrating inconsistency, with him spending the vast majority of it on the bench. But he has started to come into his own since Hughes arrived at Easter Road last summer and started in Sunday's 3-0 loss at Rangers. Hughes said: "There's a carrot and a stick and you dangle that carrot. Everybody wants to know where their future is. He's got himself back in the team, I felt that he was fantastic on Sunday. He's one that we're going to have to sit down and certainly make our minds up to try to keep at the club. I love when I sit in my office and I see him coming in in the morning. Because there's never a smile far away. I'm always into him and cracking jokes with him and I've had a great response. The talent's not in doubt and he's at an age now where I think the penny's starting to drop with the hard work and what it takes to be a top, top player."

Hibs' Kevin McBride will miss out with a hamstring injury. The midfielder suffered the problem after coming off the bench for the final six minutes of Sunday's game and is expected to be out for a couple of weeks.