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St Johnstone are the visitors to Fir Park on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership.

Kick-off at Fir Park is at 3pm.

Watch live

If you’re in the UK or Republic of Ireland, a live stream of the game will be available to buy on a pay-per-view basis for £12.

Season ticket holders can watch the game for free, as usual, at live.motherwellfc.co.uk.

International-based supporters can watch via their usual subscription at live.motherwellfc.co.uk.

Tale of the tape

There’s often no predicting the winner between the two sides in this fixture.

Saints were 2-1 victors in the last meeting in the League Cup earlier in this campaign, on their way to their appearance in the final next weekend.

In the league, ‘Well are undefeated this season, drawing 1-1 at McDiarmid Park and winning 1-0 at Fir Park back in September.

Form guide

Motherwell have won three of their last five, defeating Ross County, Dundee United and Kilmarnock.

St Johnstone gave away a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 at home to Celtic on Sunday. Prior to that, they had won two, drawn one and lost one in the league.

“It hurts. We have to hold our hands up and admit we weren’t good enough.”

Graham Alexander speaks after the derby defeat.

Motherwell’s impressive run of three wins in four games came to a shuddering halt as Accies made it a hat-trick of wins over the Steelmen this season.

And while Hamilton’s win at Fir Park in August was slender, this one was emphatic with the points in the bag after the opening 30 minutes.

It was obvious that Brian Rice’s men have the measure of the Fir Park side and Bruce Anderson’s goal after seven minutes gave them the advantage.

However, the double whammy of Ross Callachan’s penalty and Stephen O’Donnell’s dismissal after 18 minutes left ‘Well facing an uphill task. That became mission impossible when Marios Ogkmpoe made it 3-0.

Second-half goals from David Mayo and a consolation from Mark O’Hara made little impression on Accies’ control of the game.

After standing by the same starting side for the three consecutive games, Graham Alexander made one change, O’Hara returning from injury with Robbie Crawford moving to the bench.

‘Well’s intentions of avenging the 3-0 drubbing at Hamilton last month were dealt an early setback when the visitors fired home the opening goal after only seven minutes.

Callachan’s pass into the box found Anderson and from 10 yards the former Aberdeen striker rifled the ball low past Liam Kelly.

The home side replied immediately but from around the same distance from goal Devante Cole’s shot was blocked by Aaron Martin.

Barry Maguire left the field for treatment to a bloody nose and with ‘Well down to 10 men Accies passed up a couple of chances.

The Scotland Under 21 man had no sooner returned to restore parity when the Steelmen were permanently reduced to 10 men.

When O’Donnell impeded Callachan’s hopeful attempts to get his head to Lee Hodson’s cross, the referee David Munro’s decision to award a penalty seemed harsh. The official then compounded ‘Well’s misery when he showed O’Donnell a red card on the basis of denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Callachan sent Kelly the wrong way from the spot but had to retake it as a disgruntled O’Donnell was still walking off the pitch. Although the ‘Well ‘keeper guessed correctly for the second attempt Callachan confidently drilled the ball home to make it 2-0.

By the half-hour mark, and with the Fir Park men still to threaten Ryan Fulton in the Hamilton goal, ‘Well found themselves 3-0 behind.

A neat exchange with Anderson at the edge of the box sent Ogkmpoe in behind Bevis Mugabi and Ricki Lamie and the Accies striker took full advantage of the opening, ramming the ball beyond Kelly and all but wrap up the points with an hour remaining.

A couple of free-kicks from Maguire finally brought Fulton into action before Christopher Long made way for on-loan Blackburn Rovers defender Tyler Magloire.

Three goals behind and a man down at the interval, Motherwell faced an almost impossible task in the second half.

And it got worse after 63 minutes when Accies extended their lead.

Scott McMann supplied the cross and substitute David Mayo, with his first touch the finish to make it 4-0.

Four minutes later, ‘Well pulled one back after Cole went down in the box and O’Hara’s fired the penalty just beyond Fulton’s right hand.

The ‘Well boss immediately made a positive change Max Johnstone replacing Mugabi.

But the home side made little impression as Accies comfortably collected another three points at ‘Well’s expense.

Motherwell host Hamilton in the third Lanarkshire derby of the 2020/21 campaign.

Here are the key topics going into the match.

Wrongs to right

Hamilton are unbeaten in the last four derby fixtures, winning three.

You have to go back to August 2019 for Motherwell’s last victory in the fixture, which was away from home, and back to March 2019 for the last win at Fir Park.

Room to breathe

Motherwell are currently eight points clear of Hamilton, the bottom side in the Premiership.

Victory would increase the breathing room for Graham Alexander’s men, and keep sights on a top six place in the run-in to the split.

“These games are fiery and competitive. We need to stand up to that and show our qualities.”

Allan Campbell speaks ahead of Saturday’s clash with Hamilton Academical.

“We want to win the derby for the fans. We want the three points more than ever.”

Motherwell assistant Chris Lucketti looks ahead to Saturday’s Lanarkshire derby.

Here’s an offer to get you in the mood for the derby. 

We’ve teamed up with Uber Eats to secure you a great deal for the weekend. You can get £10 off your first order at a whole host of local establishments.

Just use the promo code MOTHAM10 to get your discount.

To pick your items, head to ubereats.com or download the Uber Eats app.

Terms and conditions

£10 off offer available until 11.55 pm on 19 February 2021, valid on one (1) order made via the Uber Eats app in the UK (check the Uber Eats app for availability of deliveries and restaurants) when you spend a minimum of £15 per order on food and drink, excluding the delivery fee. Delivery fee applies. Other fees (such as a service fee) may apply to order. Offer is not valid on any basket that includes alcohol or tobacco products.

To be eligible for the promotion, apply code MOTHAM10 in the Uber Eats app at the checkout before completing the order. Offer available for first time users of the Uber Eats app only. Code can be applied for a maximum of 5000 users on a first come, first served basis. Read more at t.uber.com/EATST&Cs.

Motherwell Football Club acknowledges the report of the independent review into historic sexual abuse in Scottish football.

We sincerely apologise to anyone personally affected by historic sexual abuse within the Scottish game. We recognise that the impact of abuse on survivors and their families is not historic and continues.

As noted in the report, Motherwell FC undertook an internal inquiry in 2016 relating to the matters raised, which included hiring additional external help to try and uncover as much information as possible.

All of the findings were passed to the independent review, as well as Police Scotland, at that time.

The safety and wellbeing of children and young people, whilst in the care of Motherwell Football Club, was, is and will remain a priority for the board.