[monks data]

Scottish Premiership | Gameweek 3

Aug 12, 2020 at 7.45pm UK

Fir Park

Motherwell
2 - 2
Livingston

Turnbull (8'), Campbell (35')
Lamie (11'), White (61')

FT(HT: 2-1)

Dykes (10' pen.), Forrest (69')
Sibbald (41')

Preview: Motherwell vs. Livingston - prediction, team news, lineups

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 10 August 2020

Sports Mole previews Wednesday's Scottish Premiership fixture between Motherwell and Livingston, including team news and predicted lineups.

Motherwell and Livingston square off in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday evening with both clubs having suffered back-to-back defeats.

The home side are yet to find the back of the net, while the visitors possess the second worst defensive record in the division.

Match preview

General view of Fir Park, home of Motherwell, from November 2011 © Reuters

Just over a week ago, Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson was being tipped to replace the outgoing Eddie Howe at Bournemouth after guiding the club to third place last season.

However, having seen Jason Tindall make the step up at the Vitality Stadium, Robinson is now tasked with trying to avoid a third successive defeat in Scotland's top flight.

Succumbing to Ross County and Dundee United, two clubs not tipped to challenge for the top four this season, will frustrate the Steelmen boss, who had been hoping to keep pace with Celtic and Rangers during the early stages of the season.

Robinson will not panic just yet, aware that their upcoming opponents are low in confidence, but failure to emerge victorious on Wednesday night will increase the stakes ahead of a trip to in-form Hibernian at the weekend.

From Livingston's perspective, they will also be disappointed not to have built on last season's fifth-placed finish, the best in their history.

However, Gary Holt will acknowledge that thoughts about replicating that achievement are far from his mind after witnessing his players concede four times at home to Hibs.

Three first-half goals during a 17-minute period ended the game as a contest, and it leaves Holt to go back to the drawing board after a summer of upheaval.

While getting off the mark against Motherwell will be Holt's immediate priority, he will no doubt be casting one eye to the weekend's trip to Rangers.

Despite their underdog status heading into that contest, the pressure will only increase on his shoulders if they remain without any points to their name after three outings.

Motherwell Scottish Premiership form: LL

Livingston Scottish Premiership form: LL

Team News

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson pictured in April 2018 © Reuters

Motherwell boss Robinson will again be without Callum Lang, who serves the second match of a three-match suspension.

Tony Watt, Harry Robinson and Jermaine Hylton are all pushing for a place in the starting lineup after coming off the substitutes' bench in the last game.

Despite his side's poor showing against Hibs, Holt may still be prepared to start with a back three.

However, Efe Ambrose may potentially drop back into the defence to replace Jack Fitzwater.

That would likely result in Aaron Taylor-Sinclair returning to the team at left wing-back.

Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Carson; Grimshaw, Gallagher, Mugabi, Lamie; Hastie, O'Hara, Campbell, Turnbull; Watt, Hylton

Livingston possible starting lineup:
McCrorie; Ambrose, Guthrie, Brown; Devlin, Bartley, Sibbald, Taylor-Sinclair; Pittman, Robinson; Dykes

We say: Motherwell 1-1 Livingston

While Motherwell are the clear favourites to prevail in this contest, Livingston can only improve after the weekend's heavy defeat to Hibs. Taking everything into consideration, we feel that the visitors could frustrate the hosts on the way to claiming a share of the spoils.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a draw or an away win 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.

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 48.17%. A win for Livingston had a probability of 26.7% and a draw had a probability of 25.1%.

The most likely scoreline for a Motherwell win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.82%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.39%) and 2-0 (8.51%). The likeliest Livingston win was 0-1 (7.6%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.94%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 5.2% likelihood.