MOTHERWELL host Dundee United in the first of the Premier Sports Cup quarter finals on Friday night.
And both sides will be coming into this with a sense of frustration and disappointment after their efforts over the weekend.
Hosts Well failed to stop Jimmy Thelin's Aberdeen juggernaut but it could have been so different had Tony Watt not missed a great chance and in the end, their fightback wasn't enough to rescue a point.
As for United, they started terribly against Rangers and didn't have enough firepower to recover when they finally had a go in the second half and went down to their first league defeat of the season.
However, both sides will be content with their general start to the campaign with United in fourth and Well in fifth after five games. Both of them would bite your hand off for a top six finish.
This is a decent chance for both of these sides to take a trip to Hampden for a League Cup semi-final and although neither team were brilliant in the group stages, Well beat Kilmarnock and United beat St Mirren – two of Scotland's Euro representatives – in the last round.
How the bookies view it: Well good things
Motherwell are 6/5 favorites with McBookie.com with United 9/5 underdogs with BetFred and the draw 53/20 with 10Bet.
Recent head to heads: Hosts have upper hand
The sides didn't meet last year with United in the Championship, but Motherwell won two of their four meetings although United did sneak a win at Fir Park.
Players to watch: Moses a prophet for profit
Motherwell striker Moses Ebiye has now netted in his last three games in a row and scored at Pittodrie at the weekend. He is 2/1 to score anytime with bet365.
United's giant Dutch striker Jort van der Sande didn't get much of a look-in against Rangers and was starved of service. He is 12/5 to score in Lanarkshire with bet365 on Friday night though.
Predicted line-ups.:
Motherwell still have a host of injuries with Shane Blaney, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, Callum Slattery, Sam Nicholson, Harry Paton, Ross Callachan and Johnny Koutroumbis all still missing.
United are only missing long-term injury victim Ryan Strain.
Motherwell: Oxborough, O'Donnell, McGinn, Gordon, Casey, Wilson, Zdravkovski, Halliday, Miller, Ebiye, Robinson.
Dundee United: Walton, Holt, Gallagher, Graham, Stephenson, Docherty, Sibbald, Ferry, Babunski, Trapanovski, Van der Sande
Anything else catch the eye?
Motherwell might just have too much for United and can use home advantage to carry them on to the semi-finals.
They have already beaten Hearts and Kilmarnock, the latter after extra time, so they will be confident of facing United.
Although the visitors have looked solid this season, they looked exposed on Sunday against Rangers and could easily have conceded more goals.
This could be a feisty encounter under the lights too. Motherwell got four players booked at Aberdeen and United matched them the following day. Neither side are a stranger to a challenge and there could well be some cards flashed. so keep an eye out for when the markets appear.
United's last three games and three out of Motherwell's four home games have seen only one team score, so go for Both teams to score: No at 21/20 with BetVictor
This Scottish League Cup match between Motherwell and Dundee United will be played on Sep 20, 2024 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Motherwell vs Dundee United prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
