Tannadice tussle, Shankland and O'Neill in spotlight

Five games on Wednesday could set the tone for a busy December in the Scottish Premiership.

Leaders Heart of Midlothian and chasing reigning champions Celtic will be favourites to make home advantage pay against lowly Dundee and Kilmarnock respectively.

That means Motherwell and Rangers can ill-afford any more slip-ups on the road against Falkirk and Dundee United.

Here are some key points to look out for.

Game of the day - Dundee United v Rangers

To be fair to Rangers, they remain unbeaten in 17 away league games stretching into the end of last season as they travel to face Dundee United.

However, Sunday's goalless draw at home to Falkirk highlighted that plenty of work is still to be done for the Ibrox side since Russell Martin was replaced with Danny Rohl as head coach.

It was a 1-1 draw away to the Bairns in October that put paid to Martin's short reign and that was followed by a 2-2 draw with United at Ibrox while managerless Rangers decided who should be his successor.

Rohl had won four Premiership games in a row until the Bairns came calling, but overall they have won just two of their past six outings as the German has been hampered by the same shortcomings in his squad as his predecessor.

Rangers have still only suffered one league defeat all season, but it is draws that are hampering them and they cannot afford to fall more than the seven points they are behind Celtic and nine off Hearts.

After their own 1-1 draw away to Kilmarnock on Saturday, United have themselves now shared the points on six of their 13 Premiership outings, including that visit to Ibrox.

However, since then, Jim Goodwin's eighth-placed side have won once - their only victory in eight outings - and have gone four games without one.

To make matters worse for the Irishman, he has not experienced a win in 16 games against Rangers as a manager, losing 14 of them.

Not only that, but Rangers are unbeaten in 11 meetings with United since a 1-0 defeat at Tannadice in August 2021, including four visits there in which they have drawn once and won the latest three.

Rangers, though, are struggling to score goals and Goodwin will hope that gives his side a chance of improving on just one clean sheet in their past seven home games.

Player to watch - Lawrence Shankland (Heart of Midlothian)

Lawrence Shankland (centre) has failed to score in three matches

Privately, Derek McInnes probably did not expect his Hearts side's stunning start to the season to continue without a hiccup or two.

However, the head coach probably also did not expect all his key forward players to go off the boil at the same time.

Hearts have still only lost twice in 19 outings this season - and just once in the league - but they have won just once in their latest five.

It means they entertain Kilmarnock on Wednesday with their lead narrowed to two points over a Celtic side who have a game in hand.

Most worrying of all, Hearts have found the net just once in their past three games - an own goal off United goalkeeper Yevhen Kucherenko from an Alexandros Kyziridis shot off a post - and have drawn blanks in the latest two.

Just as Hearts' form seemed to dip as soon as people began to take seriously their chances of mounting a title challenge, so have the goal contributions of Kyziridis, Claudio Braga and Pierre Landry Kabore after they were being lauded for the impact they have made since their summer arrivals.

Likewise, Lawrence Shankland's recall to the Scotland squad was quickly followed by the striker being overtaken at the top of the Premiership scoring charts by Motherwell's Tawanda Maswanhise.

McInnes will be looking for some leadership from his captain to turn around their fortunes and will see the visit of his former club as an ideal chance to do so, since he has lost just once in 31 league matches against Kilmarnock as a manager.

Especially so considering Hearts' 3-0 win in the reverse fixture in October - in which Braga scored a double - started a sequence of six straight defeats for Stuart Kettlewell's side that was only ended by Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to United.

Manager in spotlight - Martin O'Neill (Celtic)

A surprise 2-0 defeat by struggling Dundee in October was a contributing factor to Brendan Rodgers' resignation as Celtic manager two games later.

Martin O'Neill took over immediately as interim manager, but Wednesday is expected to be the Northern Irishman's final game in charge before the official arrival of Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy.

Dundee will be hoping it is a good omen considering O'Neill was in charge the last time they won at Celtic Park - 2-0 in May 2001 - since when they have visited 23 times and lost 21 times.

However, Celtic's results under their returning former manager gives them less hope, despite Stephen Pressley's side arriving on the back of a confidence-boosting 3-1 win over St Mirren.

O'Neill has steered Celtic to six wins, their only defeat being away to Midtjylland in the Europa League, including the latest four in succession.

Signs of a return to the attacking flair that had been missing in Rodgers' final days have had many fans clamouring for 73-year-old O'Neill to remain at Celtic Park in some capacity.

He thought the win over Feyenoord would be his last game in charge, then he thought it would be Sunday's defeat of Hibernian, now he seems sure he will be gone by the weekend.

Whether there could be room for O'Neill in future is unlikely to be clarified until after Nancy's appointment.

In the meantime, given Dundee have lost their past five on the road and have not enjoyed back-to-back league wins over Celtic since 1988, O'Neill is most likely to be toasting another winning send off with a coffee at his favourite coffee shop on London's King's Road.