Sunday's Scottish Premiership action on Boxing Day includes Motherwell hosting Livingston at Fir Park, in what is the final round of fixtures ahead of the rescheduled winter break.
New restrictions also mean that only 500 fans will be in attendance to witness the clash between fourth and eighth in the table.
Match preview
© Reuters
Motherwell's win over St Johnstone last weekend ensured that Graham Alexander's side will head into the upcoming winter break in the top half of the table.
The 2-0 victory saw Dean Cornelius and Kevin van Veen net the only goals of the game in each half, during what was an even encounter against their bottom-of-the-table opponents.
Those three points upped their return to 13 points in the last seven games, as well as it being their third straight victory on home soil following the 6-1 humiliation to Rangers back in October.
Alexander will be hopeful his side can make that four in a row on Boxing Day to leave the Steelmen in a strong position come the second half of the season in the new year.
Were they to do so, Motherwell could find themselves just one point off Hearts in third place, and the hosts will be confident in doing so following three successive victories against their visitors in recent meetings.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, Livingston head to Fir Park knowing there will be none of their own supporters to back them, as a result of the new restrictions in Scotland.
The Livingston faithful were in fine spirits when they left the Tony Macaroni Arena last weekend though, after they witnessed Ayo Obileye's late goal earn their side a point in a 1-1 draw with Ross County.
Boss David Martindale will have been eager for the three points on home soil though, which would have made it a third consecutive victory following 1-0 successes over Dundee United and Hibernian over the previous week.
However, a share of the spoils does at least mean that the Lions remain unbeaten across their last three fixtures, which came at a vital moment after a winless streak of six matches, including three losses on the bounce, had preceded it.
Despite their struggles against Sunday's opponents in recent meetings, Martindale and his side will prove a difficult opponent for their hosts, as they have done for many so far this season.
In fact, Livingston boast a rare superior away record compared to their home record ahead of the winter break, with 12 points from 10 away trips trumping their current return of just eight points from their nine at the Tony Macaroni Arena to date.
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Motherwell will be hoping that the defensive duo of Juhani Ojala and Ricki Lamie will be fit to return on Boxing Day.
The former has been unavailable since the beginning of November, whilst the latter has been missing from their back line for the last two matches.
Alexander may well opt to name an unchanged starting 11 from the one that recorded the victory over St Johnstone last weekend with no fresh injury concerns to contend with.
As for the visitors, goalkeeper Daniel Barden remains unavailable due to serious illness, whilst the trio of Adam Lewis, Tom Parkes and Cristian Montano are all expected to return from their respective injuries in the new year.
Martindale could also opt for the same starting lineup from last weekend, although Bruce Anderson will be looking to earn back his place as the central striker, which would see Andrew Shinnie drop to the bench.
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Kelly; O'Donnell, Mugabi, Solholm, McGinley; Cornelius, Donnelly, Goss; Woolery, Van Veen, Watt
Livingston possible starting lineup:
Stryjek; Devlin, Fitzwater, Obileye, Penrice; McMillan, Holt, Omeonga; Sibbald, Anderson, Forrest
We say: Motherwell 1-0 Livingston
With neither side one for scoring many goals so far this season, it would be expected that this is another tight clash with little entertainment in front of goal on Sunday.
However, we are predicting Motherwell to edge out their visitors to continue their strong start to the campaign, and extend their impressive run of form at home as well in the process.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
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 Motherwell win with a probability of 43.61%. A draw had a probability of 28.6% and a win for Livingston had a probability of 27.75%.
The most likely scoreline for a Motherwell win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.77%) and 2-1 (8.27%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (13.12%), while for a Livingston win it was 0-1 (10.42%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Motherwell would win this match.
