After consecutive goalless draws Dundee United shall be hoping to get back to winning ways on Wednesday night when they host Motherwell in their latest Scottish Premiership fixture.
The visitors come into the game on the back of five league matches without a win as they continue to search for their first three points of 2022.
Match preview
© Reuters
Dundee United took themselves into the top half of the table after drawing at the weekend, and they could continue to climb with a victory in midweek, potentially overtaking their opponents.
Their result on Saturday led to their second goalless draw in a row, with the Terrors failing to find the back of the net against either St Johnstone or Dundee.
However, the defensive performances have been strong in both of those matches, and that is something that Tam Courts will be hoping to see once again on Wednesday.
At home, Dundee United have performed well overall as they won half of their games, and that is something that they will want to continue if they want to maintain or improve their league position.
When they travelled to Fir Park earlier this season it was Motherwell who took the victory with Tony Watt scoring the only goal of the game, but the Terrors did take three points in their first meeting at home.
© Reuters
The Steelmen would be hoping to replicate the result that they managed to pick up last time after they failed to take three points in their previous five matches in the league.
Sunday saw the Steelmen comfortably beaten with a 4-0 loss against Celtic, and the poor run of form has allowed other teams to start catching them up in the league, including Dundee United.
However, away from home they have been one of the weakest teams in the Scottish Premiership this season, winning only two of their 14 matches so far, which is something that they will want to improve upon.
With a 10-point gap between themselves and Hearts, the focus shall mainly be on keeping themselves in fourth place, and building another run of results would help make that happen.
Graham Alexander's team have drawn two of their previous five fixtures, showcasing the resilience within the squad, but they have only found the back of the net twice in that period.
- L
- L
- W
- L
- D
- D
- L
- L
- W
- L
- D
- D
- W
- L
- D
- L
- D
- L
- L
- W
- D
- L
- D
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Liam Smith returned from injury for Dundee United at the weekend, and he could maintain his place at full-back in midweek, while Peter Pawlett was also brought back into the team in front of him in midfield.
Motherwell's draw against St Johnstone also saw Tim Akinola make his debut for the club, adding a fresh face to the middle of the park.
Liam Shaw will once again be available for Motherwell, which was not the case when they played Celtic due to that being his parent club, and this could see Dean Cornelius drop out of the team.
Joe Efford was also able to make his debut for the Steelman on Sunday, appearing from the bench, and he could be an option that Alexander picks from the start this time around.
Dundee United possible starting lineup:
Siegrist; Smith, Edwards, Butcher, Graham; Harkes, Levitt, Akinola, Pawlett; Watt, Clark
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Kelly; Mugabi, Johansen, McGinley; O'Donnell, Donnelly, Shaw, Carroll; Slattery, Goss, Van Veen
We say: Dundee United 2-1 Motherwell
Dundee United have been in stronger form heading into this particular match, and the lack of goals that the visitors have scored will be putting them under pressure for this match.
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 Dundee United win with a probability of 40.19%. A win for Motherwell had a probability of 32.36% and a draw had a probability of 27.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Dundee United win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.51%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.36%) and 2-0 (7.42%). The likeliest Motherwell win was 0-1 (10.06%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.97%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Dundee United would win this match.
