Motherwell welcome Dundee to Fir Park on Wednesday for an important game at the bottom end of the Scottish Premiership table.
The visitors currently sit in the relegation playoff spot, while their hosts are four points better off following five consecutive league defeats.
Match preview
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Motherwell return to action on Wednesday aiming to record their first points under the management of Michael Wimmer and end a dismal run of Scottish Premiership form.
The Well enjoyed a pleasing start to the 2024-25 campaign, ending a four-match winless run and moving back into the top half of the table on 30 points from 21 outings with a victory in early January, but they have since failed to add a 10th notch to their wins column in six further attempts.
After a goalless stalemate with Kilmarnock, they have suffered five consecutive defeats in Scotland's top flight and six in all competitions, with the third of those, a 2-1 loss to St Johnstone, spelling the end of Stuart Kettlewell's tenure as manager.
Then following home league defeats to Celtic and Ross County under the temporary management of Stephen Frail, the Well turned to Michael Wimmer to lead them forward, but he was unable to inspire an instant improvement on Saturday, as they visited Dundee United and succumbed to a 1-0 defeat.
Sam Dalby netted the only goal of that game to condemn Motherwell to a 14th league defeat of the campaign, and now having dropped down to 10th spot and just four points above the relegation playoff spot, they will be desperate to begin correcting their form with a return to winning ways in midweek.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, will aim to reduce that gap to a single point in a bid to maintain their top-flight status this season.
After a top-six finish last time around, Dundee have endured a tough campaign thus far, currently sitting 11th having only earned 27 points from their 27 games thus far.
Of their seven league wins thus far, the Dee's most recent came against St Johnstone in early January, and they have managed just two more points from six outings since, initially playing out consecutive draws and suffering back-to-back 6-0 beatings to Hearts and Celtic.
Then following a Scottish Cup fifth-round win over Airdrieonians and a 2-1 home loss to Aberdeen, Tony Docherty's side most recently visited Ross County on Saturday and again left-empty-handed, despite leading early through Simon Murray, as Kieran Phillips, Akil Wright and Noah Chilvers condemned them to a 3-1 loss.
Remaining in the bottom two as a result, but with the chance to move within touching distance of their hosts, Dundee will hope to bounce back to winning ways on their travels on Wednesday.
Team News
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Motherwell continue to contend with several injury issues, as first-choice goalkeeper Aston Oxborough is set to remain sidelined alongside Paul McGinn, Jack Vale, Steve Seddon, Zach Robinson and joint-top scorer Apostolos Stamatelopoulos.
In the absence of the latter, January arrival Luke Armstrong could continue to lead the line with support from Tom Sparrow and Tawanda Maswanhise, who has also managed five goals this season, although Tony Watt will hope to return to the attack after missing the weekend's defeat to parent club Dundee United.
Davor Zdravkovski will also compete to come back in from the outset in midfield, after Wimmer deployed Andy Halliday and Lennon Miller in the engine room in his first game at the helm.
Dundee will remain without defender Billy Koumetio and midfielder Scott Fraser for Wednesday's trip due to ongoing injury issues, while centre-back Antonio Portales should also miss out after being forced off in the first half against Ross County on Saturday.
Simon Murray will continue to lead the line, having taken his tally to 14 goals for the season with the opener in their defeat at the weekend, while Bristol City loanee Seb Palmer-Houlden has nine of his own and will again join him up front.
Danger man Lyall Cameron will lend further support to the front two, with only Murray topping his tally of 10 goals thus far, while Finlay Robertson and Jordan McGhee will hope to keep their places in the middle of the 3-4-1-2 setup despite competition from Mohamed Sylla.
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Balcombe; O'Donnell, Gordon, Casey; Koutroumbis, Zdravkovski, Miller, Wilson; Sparrow, Armstrong, Maswanhise
Dundee possible starting lineup:
McCracken; Astley, Donnelly, C Robertson; Mulligan, McGhee, F Robertson, Larkeche; Cameron; Murray, Palmer-Houlden
We say: Motherwell 2-1 Dundee
Hoping to feel a boost in their first home game under new management, we back Motherwell to come out on top in Wednesday's six-pointer at Fir Park.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
