Wednesday night sees a battle of the bottom two in the Scottish Premiership as Dundee United host Ross County at Tannadice Park.
United were denied a crucial three points late on against Hearts on Christmas Eve, whereas Ross County were narrowly defeated by Rangers in front of their home faithful.
Match preview
© Reuters
Dundee United have now won just once in their last eight matches in all competitions after squandering the lead twice against Hearts and ultimately being forced to share the points.
That draw at Tannadice Park was United's first competitive match following the World Cup break which put an unprecedented pause on the league season, with the club's fortunes needing to change quickly in order to avoid relegation this campaign.
Sitting in 12th place in the Scottish Premiership, Liam Fox's side are two points behind their opponents on Wednesday and have only earned a maximum on three occasions so far this term.
That trio of wins has come at home, a statistic that will give United supporters a glimmer of hope for a positive result against a Ross County side who have not been amazing themselves this season.
Ross County have now lost three consecutive games after falling to a narrow defeat at the hands of Michael Beale's Rangers at the Global Energy Stadium in Dingwall.
Although two of those three defeats have been against the two giants of Scottish football in Rangers and Celtic, supporters will be concerned about their side's form heading into the business end of the campaign.
County have won just two of their last eight in the league, while their progression in the League Cup was ended by Ange Postecoglou's men way back in August.
Jordan White is leading the club's scoring charts with four goals to his name in 18 appearances, meaning the 30-year-old has already equalled his tally from last season.
Team News
Dundee United striker Steven Fletcher was involved in a nasty collision with Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon on Christmas Eve but did not sustain any injuries, meaning the veteran should start in this fixture.
Fox has no fresh injury concerns to contend with ahead of the visit of their relegation rivals on Wednesday night, although Tony Watt will be pushing for a start in attacking areas as he looks to add to his three league goals this campaign.
Ross County will be without Ben Purrington who suffered an ankle injury in the reverse fixture back in October, an issue that halted a good start to life in Scotland after the 26-year-old made the switch from Charlton Athletic in the summer.
Another long-term absentee for County is Alex Samuel, who sustained a ligament injury in February, with the club targeting a return for the attacker during the start of 2023.
Dundee United possible starting lineup:
Birighitti; Smith, Edwards, McMann; Freeman, Djoum, Levitt, Behich; Harkes, Middleton, Fletcher
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Laidlaw; Randall, Watson, Iacovitti, Harmon; Cancola, Loturi, Tilson, Edwards, White; Dhanda
We say: Dundee United 1-1 Ross County
In a crucial game between two relegation candidates, we could see quite a cagey affair on Wednesday night, even though both sides are prone to conceding plenty of goals.
Dundee United will take confidence from the way they competed with Hearts last time out and should be good enough for a point here, even if all three points is what they really desire.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
