MOTHERWELL and Hearts meet on Sunday with both sides looking to pick up their first Premiership wins of the season.
Hearts were in midweek action in the Europa League qualifiers with Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of the play-offs in the Czech Republic.
Previous to that, Hearts crashed to a really poor 3-1 defeat at Dundee and worse was to follow after a 2-0 defeat at newly-promoted Championship side Falkirk.
That led to a furious reaction from their fans and criticism towards manager Steve Naismith who has been slaughtered with tinkering with his formations and line-ups this season.
He's just signed a new deal so panic buttons are unlikely to be hit yet and they are also claimed a goalless draw with Rangers on the opening day of the season.
Motherwell have made a steady start to their campaign. They got plenty of plaudits if not points after a 2-1 defeat to Rangers at Hampden and they also bundled Kilmarnock out of the Premier Sports Cup last weekend.
They have tried to plug the gap left by Canadian international top scorer Theo Bair last season with former hero Tony Watt.
How the bookies view it: Hearts favourites on the road
Hearts are solid favourites here despite having to travel through to Lanarkshire and the Jambos are 5/4 favourites with McBookie.com
Motherwell can be backed at 9/4 with UniBet and the draw is 13/5 with Ladbrokes.
Recent head to heads Hearts had upper hand last season
Hearts won two of the three games last term, but did lose the first encounter at Tynecastle in September.
Curiously, there's not been a draw in the last ten encounters between the sides.
Players to watch: Moses the saviour
Moses Ebiye was Well's hero last week when he netted an extra time winner against Killie in the Cup.
The Nigerian hitman who previously played in Norway is 21/10 to score anytime with bet365.
Lawrence Shankland has yet to hit the heights this season compared with last season's goalfest. The Hearts skipper is evens to score at Fir Park with bet365.
Predicted line-ups:
Former Leicester City star and Zimbabwe international Tawanda Maswanhise, is fit and in contention to make his first start for Motherwell.
Hearts boss Steven Naismith looks set to to rotate again after their midweek exertions in the Czech Republic.
Motherwell: Oxborough, O'Donnell, Casey, Gordon, McGinn, Seddon, Wilson, Zdravkovski, Miller, Watt, Ebiye
Hearts: Gordon, Taylor, Kent, Kingsley, Royles, Spittal, Devlin, Dhanda, Oda, Shankland, Vargas.
Anything else catch the eye?
You can't be backing any non-Old Firm Scottish team after a European away trip really and certainly not as short as 5/4.
European travel takes it out of Scottish sides as Kilmarnock and St Mirren have already showed this season and the call here is a long overdue draw between the sides.
It wouldn't be a disaster for either side and Motherwell are stubborn opposition at home.
This might not be a classic either – Well have already had two goalless draws against Ross County in the league and Partick Thistle in the Premier Sports Cup.
Go for under 2.5 goals with Paddy Power on Sunday at 13/8 in what could be a slow burner.
This Scottish Premiership match between Motherwell and Hearts will be played on Aug 25, 2024 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Motherwell vs Hearts prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
