First Team

MATCH PREVIEW | MOTHERWELL (A)

13th April 2023

MOTHERWELL V DUNDEE UNITED
CINCH PREMIERSHIP
3PM SATURDAY 15TH APRIL
FIR PARK

We're looking to record back-to-back victories in the cinch Premiership for the first time since the turn of the year as we travel to Lanarkshire to face Motherwell.

Take a deep dive into this weekend's fixture.

Stuart Saves Steelmen

Motherwell are the form side of the division but have endured a turbulent 2022/23 campaign.

Their season began by exiting the UEFA Europa Conference League at the Second Qualifying Round as League of Ireland Premier League side Sligo Rovers inflicted home and away defeats on the Steelemen.

As a result, Graham Alexander's tenure in Lanarkshire came to an abrupt end and Motherwell legend Stevie Hammell picked up the reigns following a successful stint as interim Gaffer.

An immediate upturn in results perhaps papered over further cracks, and as the season bore on, similar failings began to trip 'Well up again. Two wins in 17 matches left the Fir Park outfit languishing at the bottom end of the table heading into the final few months of the cinch Premiership.

A string of sub-par results climaxed with a dismal Scottish Cup Last 16 defeat at the hands of Raith Rovers which brought the dismissal of Hall of Famer Hammell. 

Stuart Kettlewell, Lead Development Coach with the club's academy, was appointed on a permanent basis after steering the team to two consecutive home victories over high-flying St Mirren and Heart of Midlothian.

After seven matches at the helm, the former Ross County boss has 16 points on the board to loft his side out of the basement battle at the foot of the division, only suffering one defeat to Rangers.

Motherwell now sit in the relative safety of eighth place with 36 points and are not mathematically out of the mix for a place in the top half of the table, but United can end their top-six hopes with a victory on Saturday.

Facts and Figures

No side in the bottom half of the table has scored more goals than Motherwell - 42.

The Steelmen have the worst discipline in the division, having committed 410 fouls this season.

58% of their points have been gathered away from Fir Park - only St Johnstone have picked up a higher percentage of their points on the road.

United are the only side to have made fewer substitutions than Motherwell, 113, this season. 

Jon Daly scored the 7,000th Scottish top flight goal in this fixture, when he forced an error from 'keeper Michael Fraser back in the 2009/10 season.

Tale of the Tape

The sides have met twice so far this season. The talking point from the first encounter proved to be a fantastic save from Carljohan Eriksson to deny Kevin van Veen from the spot, with the match ultimately ending in a goalless draw at Fir Park.

During the reverse fixture back in October, an erroneous VAR decision saw former 'Well striker Tony Watt given his marching orders after an alleged foul on Sean Goss in the first half.

United, therefore, had to attempt to overturn a goal deficit with a man fewer and failed to find an equaliser as the visitors headed back south with all three points thanks to Solholm Johansen's close-range header.

The Terrors' last win over Saturday's opposition came at the end of April 2022, when a deflected Dylan Levitt strike looped over 'Well stopper Liam Kelly on the stroke of half-time - this the only goal at a sodden Tannadice.

It was a victory which all but secured the return of European football to the City of Discovery.

 Talking Tactics

Kettlewell has remained loyal to a 3-4-1-2 formation since taking the reigns, with the only outlier predictably being against Rangers where he looked to contain the Glasgow side with a conservative 5-3-2.

Former United man Blair Spittal is key to this shape, as he roams the space behind the front two of Kevin van Veen and Mikael Mandron. 

Going forward, no team in the division utilises the wider regions of the pitch as intensely as the Steelmen, yet they don't pose a blatant threat from crossing scenarios when statistics are analysed.

Motherwell have conceded almost one-third of their 45 goals against from set-pieces this season.

Predicted XI: Kelly, McGinn, Lamie, Casey, Johnston, Goss, Cornelius, Furlong, Spittal, van Veen, Mandron

Memorable Matchup

During the 2013/14 season, a scintillating United side brimming with homegrown talent ripped Stuart McCall's men to shreds at Fir Park.

Starlet Ryan Gauld pounced on a loose ball in the area and executed a tidy scissor-kick to steer the ball beyond Gunnar Nielsen between the sticks to open the scoring. 

Then Paul Paton doubled the Terrors' lead from close range with a powerful header three minutes later.

Into the second half, a defence-splitting pass from Nadir Ciftci found Gauld advancing into the area and he finished with aplomb on the angle, then marauding full-back Andy Robertson rifled an emphatic strike into the top corner to round off a ruthless Fir Park rout with a fourth.

Watch the highlights below! 

One to Watch

Kevin van Veen is arguably the cinch Premiership's most in-form striker. The target man has rippled the net a sensational seven times in his last four matches. 

Following the failure to agree on a contract extension with Scunthorpe United at the end of the 2020/21 campaign, he headed north of the border to team up with Graham Alexander again, with whom he worked at the Iron.

After the same amount of matches, van Veen has doubled his 2021/22 league goal haul this year - with 18. Overall, van Veen has grabbed 22 goals in all competitions. 

No other player in the division has single-handedly scored a higher percentage of their club's goals this season than the 31-year-old, and only former United frontman Lawrence Shankland has taken more shots throughout the 2022/23 campaign than van Veen's 79.

What the managers say 

Watch both Jim Goodwin and Stuart Kettlewell's pre-match press conferences in full below!

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