The English Premier League may only have just finished but north of the border the 2020/21 campaign is about to begin. The final fixture to be played in the opening round of matches is between Ross County and Motherwell at the Global Energy Stadium.
The 2019/20 season ended early due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and average points per game was used to determine the final league positions. As a result, Ross County finished in 10th place and avoided relegation, with Hearts the team to go down. They won only 7 of the 30 matches they played and Ross County will need to improve on that record this season.
Ross County finished last season with a disappointing run of result that saw them win only 2 of their most recent 13 Scottish Premiership matches. The victories came at home against Hamilton and away to Aberdeen, the latter of which was a good result. However, Ross County have won only 1 of their last 5 home league games and lost 2-1 against Motherwell at the beginning of that run of matches.
Trends show Ross County have conceded 2 or more goals in 15 of their 23 most recent league games and have lost by 2 or more goals in 5 of their last 9 Scottish Premiership matches. They struggled to score more than a single goal in home games towards the end of last season, managing to do so just once in the final 6 home matches.
Motherwell finished third last season, 1 Point clear of 4th place Aberdeen but some way behind Rangers and Celtic. They will be hoping to close the gap on the Glasgow clubs this season starting with a victory in this game. Motherwell ended last season with a win over Ross County at home plus a draw at relegated Hearts.
Their form was poor prior to the results highlighted above and between the 25th of January and the 25th of February Motherwell failed to win a league game in 6 attempts. There were defeats at home against Celtic and St Mirren plus away at Livingston and St Johnstone. However, Motherwell have remained undefeated in 6 of their last 8 away matches in the Scottish Premiership.
Motherwell have not lost to Ross County in 5 of their 6 most recent away games in the league plus have scored 2 or more goals against Ross County in 7 of their last 10 away clashes. There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 9 of their last 11 away matches against Ross County.
Team news and Ross County will be without injured centre-back Coll Donaldson. Stuart Kettlewell is now the manager in his own right and may hand debuts to Carl Tremarco, Connor Randall, and Stephen Kelly.
Motherwell travel without the injured left-back Jake Carroll who is out with an Achilles injury. Striker Jordan White and central defender Nathan McGinley are among the players hoping to make their debut.
Judging by previous meetings between the teams we should see over 2.5 goals scored. However, Motherwell have to be the favourites to take maximum points and could do so with both teams scoring.