In-form Hibernian welcome Motherwell to Easter Road this Saturday afternoon, with the home side looking to continue a run that has seen them tighten their grip on third place in the Scottish Premiership table.

The Steelmen grafted their way to a very useful point with a 0-0 draw at St Mirren in midweek and will be looking to back that up on Saturday in Leith.

Match preview

Hibernian manager Jack Ross pictured in October 2020 © Reuters

Hibs manager Jack Ross has been touted as a possible successor to Neil Lennon as Celtic coach, though the bookies have him priced as an outsider.

Fans will want Ross to stay put, with Hibs looking likely to finish third now given Aberdeen's inconsistency.

The Leith outfit have won their last four games since losing 1-0 at Rangers on January 27, scoring two goals in each of those victories.

They also have a good recent record against the Steelmen, having kept a clean sheet against the Lanarkshire side in their last three games in all competitions.

Motherwell have also failed to beat Hibs in their last eight meetings at Easter Road in all competitions, so Ross's men should feel confident.

The Steelmen have been boosted this week by their hard-fought point from the draw at St Mirren, a result that came on the back of two heavy home defeats to Hamilton Academical and St Johnstone.

Defender Declan Gallagher also turned down a possible move to the MLS with Portland Timbers and New York Red Bulls reportedly interested in the Scotland international.

The player is out of contract in the summer and has been offered a new deal by the Fir Park outfit but he is attracting attention from English clubs as well as Celtic and is unlikely to stay put.

Fans will want him to help drag Motherwell further up the table before he leaves, and a bit more luck would certainly help in that regard.

Striker Devante Cole was unlucky to hit the post with an effort in the draw with St Mirren and manager Graham Alexander will be hoping for a touch more good fortune at Easter Road this weekend.

Hibernian Scottish Premiership form: WLWWWW
Hibernian form (all competitions): LLWWWW

Motherwell Scottish Premiership form: WLWLLD

Team News

Graham Alexander, now in charge of Motherwell, pictured in September 2020 © Reuters

Ryan Porteous and Jason Naismith remain out for the rest of the season, but Jack Ross has no other injury concerns ahead of the visit of Motherwell.

Alex Gogic and Jackson Irvine both managed to shake off shoulder injuries to play in the 2-0 win over Hamilton last weekend and should feature again.

Motherwell goalkeepers Trevor Carson and Scott Fox are out for the season, and they are joined on the sideline by Bevis Mugabi, whose shoulder injury is expected to keep him out until mid-March.

Liam Donnelly's knee problem should keep him out of action until next month too, while Declan Gallagher is still recovering from a hamstring injury.

Sherwin Seedorf has a knee injury too while Mark O'Hara is suffering from a non-COVID-19 illness.

Hibernian possible starting lineup:
Marciano; McGinn, McGregor, Hanlon; Cadden, Newell, Irvine, Doig; Murphy; Boyle, Doidge

Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Kelly; O'Donnell, Magloire, Lamie, Carroll; Maguire, Crawford, Campbell; Roberts, Cole, Watt

SM words green background

We say: Hibernian 2-0 Motherwell

Hibernian will continue their recent trend of winning and scoring two goals this weekend, and should also keep a clean sheet.

Motherwell are still struggling to find form, despite some improvement in midweek, and Hibs should prove too strong for them.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home 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 Hibernian win with a probability of 49.17%. A draw had a probability of 25.8% and a win for Motherwell had a probability of 25.06%.

The most likely scoreline for a Hibernian win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.3%) and 2-0 (9.24%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.22%), while for a Motherwell win it was 0-1 (8.05%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 4% likelihood.