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It’s the return of the Ladbrokes Premiership this weekend as Motherwell host St Johnstone at Fir Park.

Here’s the game previewed in numbers.

Three

Motherwell have started their last three games emphatically, taking the lead against Hearts, Kilmarnock and Livingston.

Manager Stephen Robinson has emphasised the need, understandably, to try and retain those leads. A run of defeats was arrested in the last home outing against Livi, earning a draw against the high-flying side.

Four

The number of goals netted by the Steelmen in their last three games.

The return of Ryan Bowman has helped, with the striker netting two. His renewed partnership with Curtis Main has also seen him grab the others.

Five

The number of games St Johnstone have gone without a victory.

A draw with Aberdeen on September 15 has been followed by two defeats to Celtic, as well as losses to Hearts and Rangers. They’ve scored two and conceded 14.

142

Motherwell and St Johnstone have faced each other 142 times competitively, with Saturday’s hosts having the upper hand in terms of wins.

The Steelmen have prevailed 63 times, with the Saints winning 42. There have been 37 draws.

Across that time, Motherwell have scored 254 goals, conceding 191.

Stephen Robinson looks ahead to Saturday’s game against St Johnstone after a positive week for the club.

Motherwell Colts progressed to the quarter final of the Irn-Bru Cup, and the manager believes the youngsters are all pushing in the right direction.

He said: “We’ve got a lot of young boys pushing towards the first team, and a number of them will play sooner rather than later.”<

Motherwell welcome St Johnstone to Fir Park on Saturday, 20 October and you can watch a live stream of the game online.

Supporters based outside of the UK and Ireland can tune in to the Ladbrokes Premiership game can subscribe to view for £12 a month.

A subscription gets you access to watch all of our home games live, as well as the majority of away league matches.

To watch the stream, head to tv.motherwellfc.co.uk, scroll down and choose your subscription package.

Motherwell’s Ladbrokes Premiership home match with Celtic on Wednesday, 5 December has been picked for live television.

The game at Fir Park will now be broadcast live on BT Sport in the UK, as well as on our own live streaming service outside of the UK and Ireland.

Kick-off will remain at 7.45pm.

The game will be the first meeting between the two sides in 2018/19, after a trip to Celtic Park was rearranged for Wednesday, 19 December.

Christian Mbulu sits down for a coffee and chats about the mental challenges of football, living away from home and his red hot goalscoring form.

Our interview was filmed at the Windmills Cafe in Motherwell.

Windmills is a social enterprise cafe in the heart of Motherwell which is committed to ensuring young people with learning disabilities have equal access to meaningful work experience opportunities. For more information, visit Windmills Cafe’s website.

It’s back to league action after the international break on Saturday, as St Johnstone visit Fir Park.

Let’s set the scene for the return to Ladbrokes Premiership action.

First encounter of the campaign

Motherwell and St Johnstone lock horns for the first time in the 2018/19 season on Saturday, with eight games of the campaign already passed.

The Saints sit three points above the Steelmen in the table, having gathered eight points compared to their opponents’ five.

Mixed results

Both teams have identical records in their last five matches. From four league games and one Betfred Cup match, both have lost four and drawn one.

Motherwell arrested a four-game run of defeats with a draw against Livingston in their last outing, with Ryan Bowman’s opener being cancelled out by a Keaghan Jacobs free kick.

St Johnstone started their last five matches with a home draw with Aberdeen, before going on to lose their last four. Two of those games have been against Celtic, including a 6-1 home loss in their last outing.

Head to head

The two teams came face-to-face with each other in the 2017/18 season, with St Johnstone having the upper hand.

Tommy Wright’s men won the first encounter of the campaign 4-1, although Motherwell finished the game with eight men on the pitch because of three red cards.

Motherwell won the next match when St Johnstone visited Fir Park, with Allan Campbell and Curtis Main netting in a 2-0 win.

A 0-0 draw at McDiarmid Park then followed, before the Saints sprung a surprise with a 5-1 win at Fir Park in May as Stephen Robinson’s men geared up for the Scottish Cup final.

Ticket information

Our cheapest ticket for this Saturday’s game is just £20 for adults. Children aged 15 and under can get in to the stadium for just £3 in every stand.

To buy your ticket, just head to our online ticketing website and choose your seat now. You can then choose to pick your ticket up or go for the easy option of printing at home.

St Johnstone fans will be seated in our Phil O’Donnell main stand.

Liam Donnelly captained Northern Ireland Under 21s to victory on Tuesday night, but his side were denied a place in the UEFA Under 21 European Championship play-offs.

The nation’s most-capped player at the level helped his team to a 1-0 home win over Slovakia, securing second spot in their group.

But Portugal’s victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina meant it wasn’t possible for the green and white army to be ranked as one of the best runners-up, with only four of the nine teams in second progressing to the play-off stage.

Nevertheless, the win over Slovakia made it five wins in nine for former ‘Well boss Ian Baraclough’s side, who also defeated group winners Spain away in September, a game in which Donnelly got on the scoresheet.

Chris Cadden and Allan Campbell started as Scotland’s 2019 European Championship qualifying campaign ended with defeat against England.

The pair were involved at Tynecastle as the group winners ran out 2-0 winners, netting second half goals through Reiss Nelson and Kieran Dowell.

For Cadden, the match marked the last time he will be able to feature competitively for the Under 21s, with the 22-year-old ineligible for the next qualifying campaign.

Scotland were already out of the reckoning to make it to the 2019 Euros, having lost in Ukraine last week.

Gael Bigirimana’s Burundi remain in a strong position to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, after picking up a second draw with group favourites Mali.

After a 0-0 away draw to the Eagles on Saturday, the midfielder started again as his side looked to go top of their group.

Fiston Abdul Razak opened the scoring early in the first half for Burundi, but they were pegged back by Mamadou Fafana’s equaliser with 18 minutes to spare.

After four games, Burundi are in third place but are just one point behind Mali and two behind Gabon. The top two teams in the group qualifying automatically for next year’s tournament in Cameroon.

Burundi face South Sudan away in November, with their opponents already out of the running to qualify. Their final group game comes at home to Gabon in March.

Five of Stephen Robinson’s first team squad will be in international action over the coming days.

Chris Cadden and Allan Campbell are on Scotland Under 21 duty, as Scot Gemmill’s side continue their push for at least a play-off spot in qualification for the 2019 UEFA European Under 21 Championship.

Goal difference currently keeps the Scots in third place behind Ukraine in second, who the pair travel to face on Thursday.

A win in Kiev will set up a final game with England which, depending on results, could be a shootout for top spot or a potential play-off place.

Northern Ireland Under 21s are also in contention to reach the play-offs, as they face a double header away to Iceland on Thursday and then at home to Slovakia next Tuesday.

Liam Donnelly’s side are a point behind the Slovaks with two games to go, with Iceland sitting three points behind. All three teams can finish in second and claim a possible play-off spot, depending on results in other groups.

At senior level, Trevor Carson and Gaël Bigirimana are also in qualification action.

Carson’s Northern Ireland play two UEFA Nations League matches away from home on Friday and Monday.

The goalkeeper’s side are in Austria first, before heading south to take on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia are the runaway leaders in the group, having won both of their matches so far. Northern Ireland and Austria have only played once, both against Bosnia.

Bigirimana meanwhile is in action in the qualifying stages for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with Burundi.

His nation have never reached the tournament before but have made a great start in their group, winning their first match and drawing the second against Gabon.

Group leaders Mali lie in wait on Friday in Bamako, before the two sides meet again in Burundi next Tuesday.