Preview: Hibernian vs Motherwell - prediction, team news, lineups

Hibernian and Motherwell meet at Easter Road Stadium on Sunday afternoon for a matchday one clash in the Scottish Premiership.

The hosts finished fifth in the league last term, narrowly four points behind Sunday's opponents, who secured fourth spot.

Match preview

Hibernian secured a second straight top-half finish in the Scottish Premiership last term, following up their third-placed finish in 2024-25 with a fifth-placed result in 2025-26.

Despite narrowly missing out on the European qualifying spots, Hibernian secured a spot in the Conference League qualifiers this term thanks to Celtic's Scottish FA Cup triumph.

Hibernian headed into their Conference League second qualifying round first leg clash with Malisheva in encouraging form, having beaten Cliftonville FC (5-1) and Brondby (2-1) in their last two friendly fixtures.

However, Hibs suffered a shock 2-0 loss in Kosovo in the first leg, leaving David Gray's side with plenty of work to do in the second leg back at Easter Road.

Hibernian did ultimately show their quality in the second leg, levelling the tie inside 15 minutes thanks to goals from Owen Elding and Felix Passlack, followed by Nathan Lowe and Martin Boyle helping secure a 4-1 win and 4-3 aggregate triumph.

Hibernian will now face KF Shkendija in the third qualifying round, but focus will first turn to the Scottish Premiership term, where Gray will be looking for his men to replicate their performance last time out against Motherwell.

The Steelmen, however, head into the game off the back of a stunning start to the 2026-27 campaign under new manager Alfred Johansson.

Following their fantastic 2025-26 season, where Motherwell placed fourth with 61 points, manager Jens Berthel Askou and numerous players all departed, leaving the appointed Johansson with a challenging rebuild.

Johansson's opening matches proved underwhelming, losing to both AGF and Genk in pre-season, but the Swede's side quickly bounced back and demonstrated their quality in their Conference League qualifying fixtures.

Motherwell comfortably defeated HB Torshavn 2-0 in the first leg and 3-0 in the reverse fixture in the Faroe Islands, booking their place against HJK in the third qualifying round.

Aiming to build on those results and get their league campaign off to an equally impressive start, Johansson will be hoping he can extend Motherwell's dominant recent record against Hibs.

The Steelmen have won two and drawn two of their last four encounters with Hibernian, including a 1-0 victory in their last trip to Easter Road in May.

Hibernian form (all competitions):

L W W L W

Motherwell form (all competitions):

L L W W

Team News

Off the back of the brilliant 4-1 win against Malisheva last time out, Gray may opt to name an unchanged starting 11 for their opening game of the 2026-27 Scottish Premiership season.

The front three of Boyle, Elding and Lowe all scored in that victory, and the trio should continue their partnership in attack on Sunday.

Motherwell could similarly name an unchanged team from their last outing, having demonstrated their quality in the 3-0 second leg win against HB Torshavn.

Lukas Fadinger has already scored two goals this season, and the midfielder should keep his place behind the attack of Ibrahim Said, Regan Charles-Cook and Willy Vogt.

Hibernian possible starting lineup:

Sallinger; O'Hora, Kerr, Obita; Passlack, Mulligan, Chaiwa, Mayor; Boyle; Elding, Lowe

Motherwell possible starting lineup:

Paulsen; Sparrow, Girdwood-Reich, Moorman, Williams; Booth, Fadinger, Priestman; Vogt, Charles-Cook, Said

We say: Hibernian 2-2 Motherwell

Both teams head into the game in good spirits after Conference League victories, and we anticipate a hard-fought match between two sides that were separated by only four points last term.

Hibernian and Motherwell have also already shown their attacking quality in the Conference League, leading us to predict a high-scoring and entertaining affair that ultimately ends all square.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.