Callum Davidson claimed no top flight team will be tailed off in this season’s race away from relegation as he predicted the most tightly-packed Premiership in years.
Last weekend’s series of surprise results saw all of the bottom three gain points.
Ross County won at Livingston and Dundee United gained their first victory with a 4-0 thrashing of Aberdeen.
Kilmarnock then came within one stoppage time minute of beating Hearts at Rugby Park on Sunday.
When Liam Fox’s United followed up with a 1-0 defeat of third-placed Hibernian in midweek it placed a pause on predictions of a rapid demise at Tannadice.
As for Davidson’s Saints, they were agonisingly close to taking a point off champions Celtic.
Last season, Dundee finished a dozen points adrift of safety when going down to the Championship as St Johnstone escaped the drop through the play-offs.
Yet the Perth boss believes the qualities in every team below the Old Firm this season make predicting the top six contenders and obvious relegation candidates an impossible task.
Davidson, whose men are preparing for a trip to Livingston on Saturday, said: “If I look at all the teams, they are all strong in certain areas.
“We have all got certain strengths and weaknesses. This season is going to be really tough; I’ve said that from day one.
“For us it is vital that, when there are points to be taken on the day, we take them – whether that’s one point or three points.
“Because they all add up at the end of the season and it’s going to be extremely tight. After Livingston, we’ll have played everybody once.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a great deal of difference between the teams, other than Rangers and Celtic.
“Any team can beat any other on their day and that’s been proven over the last couple of weeks.”
The first phase of St Johnstone’s league campaign comes to a close with an away test at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
Victory would lift ninth-placed Saints above David Martindale’s Livingston in the standings.
“Livingston have been good, they always have great energy and work extremely hard,” Davidson noted.
“They have good attacking options and are a threat, especially on their surface at home. There is that little advantage of playing on it.
“We were good last season on astroturf and we need to make sure we do that again this season.”
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