St Mirren will be hoping to cut the gap between themselves and the top six in the Scottish Premiership when they welcome Motherwell to St. Mirren Park on Tuesday evening.
The hosts saw their trip to Dundee postponed at the weekend, whilst the visitors tasted defeat at the hands of Hearts.
Match preview
© Reuters
St Mirren will be hoping that their postponement of their match on Saturday due to severe weather conditions can at least be used as a positive ahead of their midweek fixture.
The cancellation means that Jim Goodwin's side will have fresher legs than their opponents, with their last action being the 1-0 victory over Aberdeen a week prior to this clash.
Connor Ronan netted the only goal of that game just after the hour mark, in what was a game lacking in creativity and goalmouth action.
The Buddies put in a solid defensive display though to restrict their opponents to very little, whilst remaining clinical at the other end to steal the three points.
That win means Tuesday's hosts come into the game on the back of three consecutive victories in all competitions, following a 2-1 success at Dundee United in the league, and a 2-0 triumph at Ayr United in the Scottish Cup.
Should Goodwin's side manage to make it four in a row in the week, they could potentially pull themselves level with Aberdeen and Dundee United in sixth and seventh respectively, ahead of a possible surprise push for the top half of the table between now and April.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, Motherwell's fixture at the weekend went ahead, but Graham Alexander's men went down 2-0 at third-placed Hearts.
The result meant that their opponents extended the gap between the two sides to 10 points as things stand, meaning a push for the top three seems unlikely for the Steelmen.
However, none of the three sides directly below Tuesday's visitors were able to pick up a point either, so Motherwell head into the trip to St Mirren safely in fourth spot for the time being, with a four-point gap keeping them in the top six.
Although, that weekend defeat was a third consecutive loss on their travels, whilst also extending their winless run to five away from home, with the poor form on the road this season threatening to damage Motherwell's chances of sealing a top-half spot come April.
In fact, only three sides, including bottom two clubs Dundee and St Johnstone, have picked up fewer points than Motherwell's lowly tally of nine from their opening 11 away games in the Scottish Premiership so far this season, so Alexander will be looking for his side to put that right sooner rather than later, beginning at St. Mirren Park.
- L
- D
- D
- L
- W
- W
- D
- D
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- D
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
Team News
© Reuters
St Mirren have just the one injury concern to deal with ahead of Tuesday's match as things stand, with defender Connor McCarthy due to be assessed following his recent ankle injury.
The Irishman has been one of their best performers at the heart of three-man defence this season, but he has been unavailable since November.
Should he bit fit enough to return, Charles Dunne is likely to drop out as Goodwin potentially switches from the 4-2-3-1 formation used against Aberdeen last time out.
As for Motherwell, they are likely to be without Barry Maguire on Tuesday, after he went off with a serious-looking injury in their defeat to Hearts at the weekend.
Liam Donnelly returns from a one-match suspension though, so he is expected to replace Maguire in the centre of the pitch.
Celtic-loanee Liam Shaw made his first start for the club, and after impressing in midfield, he is likely to retain his starting spot.
Defender Ricki Lamie is the only other injury concern to contend with, with him expected to remain unavailable for another week.
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Fraser, McCarthy, Shaughnessy; Henderson, Power, Ronan, Tanser; McGrath; Brophy, Kiltie
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Kelly; O'Donnell, Solholm, Carroll, McGinley; Slattery, Donnelly, Shaw; Tierney, Van Veen, Amaluzor
We say: St Mirren 1-0 Motherwell
This is a difficult affair to call on Tuesday, with little between the two sides based on current form ahead of the encounter.
Were Motherwell at home, we would expect to see them triumph, but with their troubles on their travels of late being taken into account with St Mirren's strong form, we are predicting the hosts to edge out the visitors by a narrow margin.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a St Mirren win with a probability of 44.43%. A win for Motherwell had a probability of 27.82% and a draw had a probability of 27.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a St Mirren win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.7%) and 2-1 (8.59%). The likeliest Motherwell win was 0-1 (9.76%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.95%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13% likelihood.
