Ross County were hammered by five-star Celtic last week but it was the Staggies who impressed St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson.
Stuart Kettlewell's men suffered a 5-0 loss against the champions but Davidson believes, had the Dingwall side carried a bit of luck, the result could have been a lot different.
Now his side need to ensure County do not bounce back when the teams meet at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
Davidson said: "We've watched County quite a lot this season. I know the scoreline was 5-0 against Celtic last week but I thought they were excellent.
"The result didn't really reflect on the performance Ross County put in.
"It will be a tough game this weekend. They've got a lot of good players and have added a couple of new signings in defence.
"We've got to make sure we're fully prepared and anticipate what's going to happen."
Davidson has warned his team they cannot afford to continue stumbling out of the blocks.
From their seven Premiership fixtures so far, Saints have lost the first goal six times and it has proved costly with the Perth men having claimed just two victories to date.
"It is hard when you go a goal down," said Davidson. "Unfortunately we've done that in three of the last four games and all those games have ended up being 1-0.
"We're performing at a good level but I'd just like to see us have the opportunity to get that early lead and then build on it.
"That will give us an easier chance of getting a result.
"It was very difficult against Motherwell last week when they went a goal up early. After that they shut up shop and defended very well. We found it hard to break them down.
"We've been working on that this week to make sure it's us who get that first goal and hopefully it comes on Saturday."
