Motherwell will be hoping the Scottish FA Cup continues to provide a welcome distraction for them since they have failed to win a match since their fourth-round victory.

They will host Aberdeen on Saturday with a place in the quarter-finals on the line, and the Dons are also out of form heading into this match.

Match preview

Celtic's Liel Abada in action with Motherwell's Nathan McGinley on February 6, 2022 © Reuters

Motherwell has a frantic fixture in the third round of the competition in January, as they only narrowly defeated Greenock Morton to keep their name in the hat.

The match was goalless after 90 minutes, with the Scottish Championship side actually taking the lead in the 105th minute before a penalty from Kevin Van Veen and a last-ditch winner from Liam Donnelly stopping a shootout.

Since that point Graham Alexander's team have struggled, failing to win in their next five encounters, and a more concerning problem is the fact they have only scored a single goal in that period.

This is something that the Steelmen will need to fix in order to reach the quarter-finals, which is where they were knocked out last season via a penalty shootout against Hibernian.

Motherwell were comfortably defeated in their previous two outings, with a 4-0 loss against Celtic being followed by a 2-0 result to Dundee United, with some improvements being needed for the squad.

Aberdeen's Joe Lewis pictured in November 2020 © Reuters

Aberdeen are in a similar position to their opponents in the sense that they have also not won a game since their third-round Scottish Cup victory, although their experience in this tournament has been easier so far.

Unlike Motherwell, the Dons did not require extra time to earn their place in this stage, having defeated Edinburgh City 3-0 after goals from Ryan Hedges, Christian Ramirez and Lewis Ferguson.

This fixture will be the first of two games in a row that these teams will play each other, therefore Aberdeen will be hoping to get themselves an advantage before facing the Steelmen in the league next week.

Stephen Glass witnessed his team lose in a frantic five-goal thriller against the league leaders Celtic on Wednesday, with the Dons putting together a brilliant effort against one of the most in-form teams in Scotland.

Aberdeen had pulled themselves back from going two goals behind in the first 20 minutes, but they were then only level for one minute after the Hoops immediately scored their third goal, yet that fighting spirit could help them push on in cup football.

Motherwell Scottish Cup form:

Motherwell form (all competitions):

Aberdeen Scottish Cup form:

Aberdeen form (all competitions):

Team News

Graham Alexander, now in charge of Motherwell, pictured in September 2020 © Reuters

Joe Efford made his first start for Motherwell in their midweek loss, and he could retain his position in the attack for Alexander this weekend.

However, he might look to bring Van Veen back into his starting lineup, after the forward only featured as a substitute against Dundee United, with the Steelmen continuing to look for answers to their goalscoring issues.

Adam Montgomery is someone who could come straight back into the Aberdeen starting lineup after he had to be taken out of the team against Celtic due to the fact he is on loan from the Hoops.

Meanwhile, Scott Brown was brought back into the team after being rested, with Glass continuing to manage his minutes, which means he could end up being kept on the bench in this match.

Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Kelly; Mugabi, Johansen, Ojala, McGinley; Slattery, Donnelly, Goss; Van Veen, Efford, Roberts

Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Woods; McCrorie, Gallagher, Bates; Ramsay, Jenks, McGeouch, Ferguson, Hayes; Ramirez, Besuijen

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We say: Motherwell 1-2 Aberdeen

This Scottish Cup fixture is something that both teams need at the moment after failing to win a game since their fourth-round encounters.

However, the lack of goals that Motherwell have been scoring is something that could prove to be a problem for them in this environment, which is why Aberdeen could edge it.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Written by
Matthew Wilkinson

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 Aberdeen win with a probability of 44.01%. A win for Motherwell had a probability of 28.6% and a draw had a probability of 27.4%.

The most likely scoreline for an Aberdeen win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.51%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.67%) and 0-2 (8.43%). The likeliest Motherwell win was 1-0 (9.56%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.88%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood.