Motherwell will go in search of a third straight Scottish Premiership victory upon their return to action on Tuesday, when they travel to take on Ross County.
Both sides will take to the pitch for the first time since the turn of the year, with the visitors sitting six places and 13 points better off than their hosts.
Match preview
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Motherwell enjoyed a relatively strong first half to the Scottish Premiership season under the tutelage of Graham Alexander, heading into the break in fourth spot with 33 points from their opening 20 games.
In that time, they earned nine victories, including back-to-back wins in their last two outings, firstly defeating St Johnstone 2-0 thanks to goals from Dean Cornelius and Kevin van Veen.
Van Veen was again the hero on Boxing Day as he netted a crucial brace in their 2-1 home win over Livingston, seeing the Fir Park side remain ahead of Hibernian and Aberdeen.
Now with 13 games left to play of the first phase and a six-point lead over seventh-placed Dundee United, The Well are in a good position to earn a place in the Championship Group but will know that they need to keep picking up victories to further strengthen that claim.
They welcome a Ross County side more focused on steering clear of the threat of relegation this season after a difficult start.
After failing to pick up a victory from their opening 10 games, earning just three points in the process, Tuesday's hosts quickly sank towards the foot of the division.
However, Malky Mackay may have noticed improvements in his side heading into the recent break, as the Staggies picked up four wins from the next 10 games taking them up to Christmas, allowing them to leapfrog strugglers St Johnstone and Dundee.
After a hard-fought 2-1 win away at the former, Ross County rounded off the opening round of games with a tough trip to third-placed Hearts, and they left empty-handed despite Jordan White pulling the game back to 2-1 in the second half.
While they can certainly be proud of the steps they have taken in recent months, the Staggies will know that they have much more work to do if they are to avoid relegation this season, and Mackay will be keen to see his side return from the break in style on Tuesday, with what would be just their third away league win of the term.
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Team News
While Ross County recently suffered the departure of Arsenal loanee Harry Clarke, Malky Mackay has since replaced the defender with the signings of Declan Drysdale and Kayne Ramsay on loan from Coventry City and Southampton respectively.
Their only absentee should be centre-back Alex Iacovitti, who continues to nurse an injury, allowing space for the new signings.
Regan Charles-Cook offers a threat from the wing, having netted six goals and provided two assists in the Scottish Premiership so far this season.
Motherwell have lost midfielder Robbie Crawford in the January transfer window but have replaced him with the capture of Liam Shaw on loan from Celtic, while exciting attacker Ross Tierney has also arrived.
Tony Watt, who has agreed a move to Dundee United in the summer, should continue to lead the line while he remains with Alexander's side, having netted a league-high tally of nine top-flight goals so far this campaign.
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Maynard-Brewer; Ramsay, Drysdale, Baldwin, Vokins; Cancola, Spittal; Hungbo, Samuel, Charles-Cook; White
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Shaw; O'Donnell, Mugabi, Johansen, McGinley; Goss, Donnelly, Shaw; Tierney, Watt, Van Veen
We say: Ross County 1-2 Motherwell
Ross County have certainly come on leaps and bounds recently, and we would not be surprised if they earned a result on Tuesday, but we ultimately see a strong Motherwell side just getting over the line on their travels.
Alexander's men have had to grind out plenty of hard-fought victories this season, and we expect them to do that again upon their return to action.
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 Motherwell win with a probability of 40.44%. A win for Ross County had a probability of 32.91% and a draw had a probability of 26.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Motherwell win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.64%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.55%) and 0-2 (7.18%). The likeliest Ross County win was 1-0 (9.39%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.67%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 3% likelihood.
