Aberdeen travel to Hamilton Academical in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday night hoping to bounce back from their 4-0 defeat to Rangers last weekend.
Meanwhile, the hosts have lost their last five league matches in a row and sit rock bottom of the table.
Match preview
© Reuters
Times are tough for Hamilton as their miserable league campaign continued last weekend with the Accies losing 2-1 away at Dundee United, piling more pressure on head coach Brian Rice.
Defeat on Saturday was their 10th in the league this season from 13 matches, which means that Rice's side are now four points adrift at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership with St Mirren, who are one place above them, having a game in hand.
The Accies head into their fixture with Aberdeen with a poor home record, as they have won just one of their last 11 home league games – losing eight and drawing the other two – and they remain the only team without a home win in this season's Scottish Premiership.
Hamilton have also lost seven of their last eight league matches against Aberdeen, winning the other 2-0 at Pittodrie in February 2019.
Victory on Wednesday would see the Accies win for the first time since September 12. They would remain bottom but would close the gap between themselves and St Mirren to one point.
© Reuters
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes will be looking to put last weekend's heavy 4-0 defeat at Rangers behind him and hopes to bounce back with a victory on Wednesday night.
The Dons struggled to compete with a rampant Rangers side at Ibrox, having had only 29% possession in the game, their lowest percentage with the ball in the Scottish Premiership this campaign.
Aberdeen are likely to control the game more against Hamilton who they have a good record against in recent seasons, winning their last three league visits at the Fountain of Youth Stadium – with all three of these being a midweek fixture.
The Dons will be missing key midfielder Lewis Ferguson as he is self-isolating and following coronavirus protocols. The former Accies man has been in fine form this campaign, scoring eight goals from 12 league matches including a strike in their 4-2 victory over the Accies in October.
A victory against Hamilton would see the Dons secure their first away win in three matches and close the gap on second placed Celtic to just one point.
Hamilton Academical Scottish Premiership form: DLLLLL
Hamilton Academical form (all competitions): LLLLWL
Aberdeen Scottish Premiership form: DWDLWL
Aberdeen form (all competitions): WDWDWL
Team News
© Reuters
Hamilton's David Templeton (groin) and Charlie Trafford (broken ankle) remain sidelined with injuries.
Brian Rice may stick with a back three, which he has used in the previous two league matches, with defender Ben Stirling set to keep his place in the starting lineup.
18-year-old midfielder Reegan Mimnaugh could be handed a starting spot alongside Ross Callachan and Scott Martin.
Aberdeen trio Lewis Ferguson, Ross McCrorie and Connor McLennan will all miss Wednesday's match as they are all self-isolating and following coronavirus protocols.
Dylan McGeouch and Jonny Hayes are both ruled out with groin injuries, while Marley Watkins is also unavailable as he is suffering with a hamstring problem.
Shay Logan, who started the last match against Rangers, could continue at right wing-back, with Ryan Hedges playing further forward.
Ryan Edmondson is hoping to keep his place in the starting XI and play in behind target man Sam Cosgrove.
Hamilton Academical possible starting lineup:
Fulton; Stirling, Odoffin, Want; Hodson, Callachan, Martin, Mimnaugh, McMann; Ogkmpoe, Moyo
Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Lewis; Hoban, Taylor, Considine; Logan, Leigh, Ojo, Kennedy; Hedges, Wright; Cosgrove
We say: Hamilton Academical 1-3 Aberdeen
Hamilton need to pick up points quickly before the gap at the bottom of the table increases. The Accies will want to give a good account of themselves, but Aberdeen should have the quality and attacking threat to cause the home side problems once more.
Top betting tip
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 Aberdeen win with a probability of 50.94%. A draw had a probability of 25.1% and a win for Hamilton Academical had a probability of 23.95%.
The most likely scoreline for an Aberdeen win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.88%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.48%) and 0-2 (9.44%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.93%), while for a Hamilton Academical win it was 1-0 (7.52%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.9% likelihood.