St Johnstone will look to keep their survival hopes in the Scottish Premiership alive as they travel to Fir Park to take on Motherwell.
St Johnstone saw their hopes of reaching another Scottish Cup final emphatically ended last weekend, as they were thrashed 5-0 by Celtic on an afternoon where two of my selections cruised in.
Two weeks prior to that defeat, Simo Valakari’s side had shocked Celtic with a 1-0 win in Perth in the Premiership, but a defeat at Tannadice by the same scoreline a week later leaves The Saints five points adrift of 11th-placed Dundee.
Motherwell, on the other hand, saw their slim top-six hopes come to an end last time out, as they played out a drab goalless draw with Hearts.
That result extends their winless run to four matches in the Premiership for Michael Wimmer’s side, but it did, at least, put a halt to their two-match losing run following defeats at Aberdeen and Kilmarnock.
How the bookies view it: Steelmen slight favourites
Despite being winless in four matches, BoyleSports make Motherwell 13/10 favourites to claim all three points.
The Saints are 19/10 to give their survival hopes a real boost, whilst the draw is 21/10.
Head to head: Two wins apiece this season
Motherwell won the first two meetings between the pair 2-1 this season before St Johnstone got their revenge by beating them by the same scoreline in Perth after having knocked The Steelmen out of the Scottish Cup the week before.
Players to watch: Slattery to strike again?
Motherwell midfielder Callum Slattery has scored three goals in his last four appearances, including a brace in their 2-2 draw with St Mirren last month.
Makenzie Kirk is St Johnstone’s leading scorer in the Premiership with seven this season and also bagged the winner in their Scottish Cup victory over Motherwell in January.
Predicted line-ups:
Motherwell will be missing the injured Ross Callachan, Zach Robinson, Steve Seddon and Filip Stuparevic.
St Johnstone will be without Drey Wright, Sam McClelland, Bozo Mikulic and Zach Mitchell who are all in the treatment room.
Motherwell: Balcombe, O'Donnell, Koutrombis, Casey, Sparrow, Halliday, Thompson, Maswanhise, Slattery, Miller, Armstrong
St Johnstone: Fisher, Curtis, Balodis, Sprangler, Douglas, Holt, Griffith, Duke-McKenna, Carey, Sidibe, Kirk
Anything else catch the eye?
Motherwell’s opening 33 Premiership matches this season have averaged 2.82 goals per game, with Over 2.5 Goals paying out in an impressive 23 (70%) of them, including 11 of their last 15 at Fir Park.
Meanwhile, St Johnstone’s seven away matches to fellow bottom-six sides have averaged an eye-catching 3.43 goals per game, with Over 2.5 Goals landing in six (86%) of them, whilst each of the last six have produced goals at both ends.
What's more, the previous seven Premiership meetings between these two sides have seen both teams get on the scoresheet, whilst each of the last four have broken the Over 2.5 Goals barrier.
This Scottish Premiership match between Motherwell and St Johnstone will be played on and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Motherwell vs St Johnstone prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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