Dundee United and Motherwell square off on Wednesday evening looking to stay in the hunt for third position in the Scottish Premiership standings.
These two sides currently occupy fourth and fifth place, with Dundee United trailing Rangers by just the four points at this stage.
Match preview
![Jim Goodwin (Manager) of Dundee United during the 2024/25 Pre Season Friendly match between Dundee United and Luton Town at CalForth Construction Arena, Tannadice Park, Scotland on 26 July 2024 [on August 2, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/31/jim-goodwin.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Jim Goodwin (Manager) of Dundee United during the 2024/25 Pre Season Friendly match between Dundee United and Luton Town at CalForth Construction Arena, Tannadice Park, Scotland on 26 July 2024 [on August 2, 2024]")
© Imago
On the back of last season's promotion, Dundee United may have been content with survival in the top flight in their first year back.
However, those ambitions have since changed now that they already sit five points clear of seventh place, a smaller difference in front of them to Rangers.
Suffering a late 1-0 defeat at a relentless Aberdeen outfit at the weekend would have frustrated Jim Goodwin, with their only other reverse all campaign being by the same scoreline to Rangers on September 15.
In the grand scheme of things, though, the Terrors are on an upward trajectory as they dream of remaining in contention for European qualification at the back end of the season.
Less than half of their 15 points have come in fixtures at Tannadice, though, with seven points being accumulated from their four games.
Motherwell have collected six points from the same amount of matches on their travels, with their two defeats coming at the homes of the aforementioned Rangers and Aberdeen by 2-1 scorelines.
Even in losses, that has emphasised that Stuart Kettlewell is working wonders at Fir Park after only finishing in ninth during 2023-24.
Nevertheless, despite four wins coming from the last seven games, the Steelmen have suffered back-to-back defeats at home to Dundee and Celtic without scoring a goal.
That has extend their streak without a clean sheet in the league to eight games, with the only shutout coming against Ross County on the opening weekend of the season.
Team News
![Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell during the Premier Sports Cup Group G match at Fir Park against Partick Thistle on 28/07/2024[on August 1, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/31/stuart-kettlewell.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell during the Premier Sports Cup Group G match at Fir Park against Partick Thistle on 28/07/2024[on August 1, 2024]")
© Imago
Goodwin must decide whether to hand starting opportunities to Miller Thomson and Jort van der Sande in the final third.
However, there is unlikely to be an over-reaction to going down by a narrow scoreline to Aberdeen, with it a possibility that the same first XI could be named.
As for Motherwell, they will be without Liam Gordon after the defender was sent off during the latter stages of the Celtic game.
Shane Blaney could be brought into the back three for his first league start since the opening weekend.
Tony Watt will hope for his first top-flight start in attack after making seven substitute outings.
Dundee United possible starting lineup:
Walton; Adegboyega, Gallagher, Holt; Stepehenson, Sevelj, Babunski, Ferry; Trapanovski, Middleton; Dalby
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Oxborough; O'Donnell, Blaney, Balmer; Kaleta, Halliday, Zdravkovski, Miller; Wilson; Watt, Sparrow
We say: Dundee United 1-1 Motherwell
This has all the makings of a tense battle, both teams aware that the stakes are being raised considerably due to Rangers' inconsistency. With that in mind, we would not be surprised to see a low-scoring draw play out on Wednesday night.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
