Dundee United v Motherwell – Match Preview
Dundee United welcome in-form Motherwell to the City Of Discovery as Jim Goodwin aims to get back to winning ways. The last time the two sides clashed was at Fir Park as the Steelmen ran away 2-0 winners in October with goals from Maswanhise and Elliot Watt for Motherwell. The Steelmen have won in four of their last five outings in this meeting with Jim Goodwin’s side last win in this tie coming back in February in a 1-0 victory where Sam Dalby netted the only goal of the game. Since their fourth place finish last season, it hasn’t been all the same for the Tangerines. Dundee United sit 8th after a poor start to their Scottish Premiership campaign. The hosts for Saturday haven’t been able to pick up any win in their last six fixtures with their last win being in a 3-1 win over St Mirren back in October. Jim Goodwin’s side have won once in the last 10 as well as 5 draws and 4 defeats. Motherwell have had the exact opposite as the Steelmen are on fine form this season. Motherwell sit third, just six points off of Celtic in second place. The hosts of course haven’t won in six whereas Motherwell, they haven’t been defeated in six with their last loss being their 4-1defeat at Hampden Park to St Mirren in the Scottish League Cup Semi-finals. Since then, the Fir Park outfit have certainly kicked on and become strong prospects of giving the top four a tough battle. Despite the poor form, Jim Goodwin’s men haven’t been shy of a goal, scoring four goals in five for the Tannadice side. Their defensive side have shown to be fragile with no clean sheets in their last 10 outings. Motherwell have been on good form in front of goal, scoring eight times in their last five matches. The Steelmen have been awarded the most league penalties this campaign, being given a spot-kick on six occasions. Motherwell star-man, Maswanhise, has been a standout this season, netting eight times so far this season where the attacker is currently the league’s top goal scorer. Pairing Max Watters and Julius Esekesen both return to the side while Keresztes will be out through suspension. Dario Naamo and Pan Camara sit out with a hamstring injury as well as Pappoe and Kucherenko also remain out. For Motherwell, Andy Halliday isn’t quite ready for action yet with Stuparevic, Oxborough, Nicholson, Robinson, McGhee and Sule all remaining absent. While speaking about the game, Goodwin described Motherwell as “the most in-form team in the league”. “It’s only natural when you’re on the type of run that we’re on that your confidence is going to take a bit of a hit,” Jim Goodwin said. “But we believe in what we’re doing. We are going through, probably, the toughest period that I’ve experienced during my time as United manager. “Football is not a bed of roses all the time, you’ve got to find a way to get through these difficult periods.” “It’s quite a remarkable transformation and he deserves a huge amount of credit,” the Tannadice boss quoted. “Given results, and where Motherwell are sitting in the table, I imagine there’s people all over Europe taking notice. “Motherwell are the most in-form team in the league. The new manager has been incredible in terms of their playing style and they’re as difficult an opponent as you can face at this moment in time. “But we have to believe we’re capable of winning the game. We didn’t do ourselves justice at Fir Park, the second half was a lot better from us, so we have to make sure we start this game the way we did in the second 45 over there.” Jens Berthel Askou believes it’s “extremely satisfying” seeing how his side plays in his style. “In general it’s been pleasing that players that some would have maybe written off and said, ‘no, that type of football is not for him’, that they have managed to actually be really, really good and strong players in what we’re doing,” Askou said. “That has been extremely fulfilling and satisfying for them as individuals, but especially for us as a club and as a group, that a lot of the players who were already here have been thriving in this, which means we don’t have five, six, seven players that have been left behind by the development. “There’s always one or two that might be caught on the wrong side of the competition, who need to move on when the next window of opportunity comes, and then we’ll see. “But it’s very, very few, and it’s not like we have players who have not done well. When they have played or when they are in training, they all look comfortable and really good, and I think that has been extremely satisfying.” Motherwell are now unbeaten in eight Premiership games and sit third before Saturday’s trip to face Dundee United. The Steelmen boss said: “The key thing is not to dwell on that and think we’re fantastic because we’ve had a good run. “It’s going to be harder and harder to win games the more you win, and we also know that the team we are playing on Saturday is a very good team who have not had the results that I think they’re worth as a group.”
Livingston vs Dundee – Match Preview
The bottom two will go head-to-head on Saturday as both look to pick up much needed points. The last meeting between these two came in September of this year, where Dundee won 3-2 courtesy of a last minute penalty from Callum Jones. Dundee have had the better of Livingston in each of their last four meetings. The last time Livingston beat Dundee was back in May 2022, when Andrew Shinnie and Alan Forrest both scored late on. Livingston have struggled on their return to the top flight. David Martindale’s side sit bottom of the table on eight points, winning one, drawing five and losing nine of their fifteen matches, which is the fewest by any side at this stage of a Scottish Premiership campaign since Falkirk back in 2009-10, who also won one. Livingston’s one and only win so far came in their second game of the campaign, where they beat fellow promoted side Falkirk 3-1 at home. The Lions come into this fixture off the back of a 3-0 loss against Motherwell at Fir Park. Dundee have also had a difficult start to their Premiership campaign. Steven Pressley’s side sit in 11th place on twelve points, winning three, drawing three and losing ten of their sixteen matches. Dundee’s last win came against St Mirren on November 29th at Dens Park, where Alexandros Gogic scored an own goal, Drew Wright and Joe Westley both found the net in a 3-1 home win. Despite their dismal start to the season, The Dark Blues have picked up some notable results so far this season, drawing 1-1 against Rangers at Ibrox in their second game of the Premiership campaign and beating Celtic 2-0 at home, however, despite that, their league position does not lie, but a win on Saturday could see them climb up to 10th, should Kilmarnock fail to beat an inform Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday. Both of these sides are right at the bottom in terms of clean sheets. Livingston have kept the fewest, only managing to keep one in sixteen Premiership matches, while Dundee have only kept two in sixteen matches. Dundee have scored the fewest goals in the Premiership so far, only scoring thirteen in sixteen matches, which is an average of 0.80 goals per game. Livingston have enjoyed a slightly better start in front of goal, scoring fifteen in fifteen matches. David Martindale’s reaction to defeat against Motherwell: “We shot ourselves in the foot, we were playing too narrow. They hit us with a couple of counters. “Second half I didn’t think there was a lot in it and we give away a penalty. I’ve not had a chance to look at it back, i’m not interested in that to be honest. Then the game becomes difficult.” Steven Pressley’s pre-match thoughts: “This weekend is a big game for us and Livingston, very much so. “I said before St Mirren that the position of the teams heightened the importance of the game and this one is the same. Both teams know they have to try to get something from it. “Going into this time of the season is always really important and we’d love to do it with some momentum. “Our run of games has been really difficult but over the Christmas and New Year period we play a lot of the teams around us. “That’s a good thing but it also heightens the importance of each game.”
