Kheredine Idessane
BBC Scotland at Firhill

These sides played each other five times last season, treating the fans to 20 goals, as Thistle won the three matches here at Firhill and drew the other two over on the south side.

The Jags are on an eight-match unbeaten streak against the Spiders, banging in 25 goals across those games, stretching back to Queen's' last win in the fixture in January last year.

And away we go.

Plenty goals please!

The players are out at both Dens and McDiarmid Park.

Another round of Premiership action is about to get under way...

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland at Dens Park

A first visit to Dens Park for me this season as Dundee host St Mirren and a first look for me at their new pitch.

The huge amount of work they did on it over the summer has paid off, it is magnificent.

I can see why Lyall Cameron said earlier in the week it is one of the best he has played on.

On agreeing a new rolling contract at Fir Park, Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell tells BBC Radio Scotland: "Everyone can see good things are happening at Motherwell. We are really proud of a number of factors and always looking to get better.

"When there’s a degree of certainy for the playing and coaching staff, you get the absolute best out of each other. We look forward to what comes next in the story of Motherwell."

Kettlewell brought Jack Vale back to Motherwell for a second loan stint yesterday, and the forward is on the bench today in an otherwise unchanged line-up. Fellow deadline-day addition, Hibernian loanee Jair Tavares, is not yet ready to feature.

"We were fortunate enough to be able to do business," Kettlewell says. "Jack makes the bench, Jair doesn’t. He’s not had a training session with us yet so we felt it necessary to make sure he was fully up to speed. Jack knows the club and understands how we play.

"We want to try and grow in confidence, we understand in this league, that can be shot to pieces in an instant. The defensive aspect and structure has been okay, it’s just that bit of invention and imagination. That comes from players with confidence and I’m starting to see them grow."

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St Johnstone manager Craig Levein explains his decision to hand fit-again goalkeeper Ross Sinclair a first appearance since last July, in place of Josh Rae:

"Josh has made some really good saves and has had a couple of errors as well, I just felt it was the right time to give him a wee break," Levein tells BBC Radio Scotland.

"He put a bit of pressure on himself and I felt it was right to give him the chance to take a breath. Ross has had a pretty tough time of it through injury but been training for a while and played some pre-season matches."

On new signing Jason Holt, who sealed a deadline-day return to Perth, Levein adds: "He knows the game in Scotland like the back of his hand. I had him at Hearts when he was a kid and he went down south and on to Rangers.

"We have younger players who will benefit from his experience. He’s an all-round solid performer with bags of experience in this league."

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Kheredine Idessane
BBC Scotland at Firhill

Changes for both sides at a gloriously sunny Firhill.

Seeking their first win of the league season, Partick bring back captain Brian Graham, veteran Stuart Bannigan, James Lyon and Logan Chalmers.

Queen's Park are unchanged from the win at Airdrie, with one major exception. Goalkeeper Callum Ferrie was sent off in the closing stages so 21-year-old Jack Wills, who replaced him last week, starts. His deputy on the bench today is even younger: 18 year old Sam Kane.

On the signing of Kevin van Veen, St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson tells BBC Scotland: "It was very late, a simple loan deal turned out to be very complicated in the end.

"It's boosted us in an area that can win us games. I'm confident I'm getting a very focused player."

The Dutch striker is yet to travel back from the Netherlands.

On Luke McCowan's departure to Celtic, Dundee manager Tony Docherty tells BBC Scotland: "It's all about making sure you develop and improve players, Luke comes into that category.

"When players are doing well you'll attract suitors. He's been a fantastic sevant for this club. We've got a really strong squad, Luke going presents an opportunity for others.

"Simon [Murray] will now take the captain's armband, he was the prime candidate."

Motherwell's Tony Watt played 37 times for St Johnstone in the 2018-19 season, and has been catching up with some familiar faces before kick-off in Perth.

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SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster is on Sportsound, and was asked about the possibility of domestic games being postponed for Scottish teams in Europe:

"Firstly it is important to stress that want all Scottish clubs to progress in Europe. It's important for the whole of the Scottish game that all clubs do the best that they can, and clearly fixtures are part of that.

"Every win and every draw in any European game improves the coefficient for all clubs, so it’s really important for the whole game. However, the fixture list is utterly jam-packed and it’s been made worse this season by the changes to European competition.

"We’ve got four additional dates that have been created by the changes in the three competitions. It's very exciting and an interesting format. it certainly should generate more opportunities for participation for clubs across Europe including our own. And that means financial rewards. In short, we would love to help where we can.

"If there any postponements, it can cause a real problem. As much as we would like to help clubs, we just can't. Other countries have more flexibility but they may have fewer games, and crucially we have the split and we have to get all games completed by then.

"I don’t think there’s another country that has as much congestion as we do."

On whether Kilmarnock placed a request to move a postpone fixture:

"It was an informal discussion but it’s well understood by our clubs that we would like to help while we can, but we can’t reschedule given the congestion."

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Manager Stuart Kettlewell and assistant Stephen Frail have signed "new rolling contracts" at Motherwell in the build-up to today's game.

During his 18 months in the job, Kettlewell has led the Fir Park side to seventh and ninth-placed finishes in the Scottish Premiership.

This season, the Lanarkshire club have won four points from their first three league games and have a League Cup quarter-final against Dundee United to come.

"When I first joined, the outlook was bleak," said Kettlewell, who took over from Steven Hammell in February 2023 with the club in relegation danger.

"Fast forward 18 months and we have gone on a scintillating run at the end of the 2022-23 season, just missed out on top six last season, increased the revenue from player sales and progressed to a quarter-final of the Premier Sports Cup."

Along with his staff, including Frail, Kettlewell's impressive work with Kevin van Veen and Theo Bair has led to the club recouping significant transfer fees for the attacking duo.

Image source, SNS

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• St Johnstone have only lost one of their last nine league meetings with Motherwell (W4 D4), going down 2-0 in May 2023.
• Five of Motherwell's last seven league visits to St Johnstone have been drawn, including both of the last two, with each side winning once each in this time.
• St Johnstone are winless in 10 home league matches (D4 L6), their longest such run in the top flight since another run of 10 from April to November 2001.
• Motherwell have kept just one clean sheet in their last 17 league games, with that coming in a 0-0 draw with Ross County on matchday one this season.
• Dan Casey has recorded more interceptions (8) than any other player in the Scottish Premiership this season, while he has also made more tackles (9) and blocked more shots (4) than any other Motherwell player.

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• Dundee have lost five of their last six league games against St Mirren, with the exception seeing them run out 4-0 winners in November 2023.
• St Mirren have lost just one of their last seven top-flight away games against Dundee (W4 D2), winning 3-1 in their most recent meeting in May last season.
• Dundee and St Mirren are the top two sides for highest scoring matches in the Scottish Premiership so far this season. The Dark Blues' games have featured 12 goals (7 for, 5 against) while the Buddies’ have had 10 (4 for, 6 against) in the opening three matchdays.
• Dundee remain unbeaten in the league this season (P3 W1 D2 L0). In the 21st century, only in 2014-15 have they enjoyed a longer unbeaten start to a top-flight campaign (first 6 games).
• St Mirren have lost seven of their last 10 Premiership games (W2 D1), including their last two in a row – this is the most defeats of any side in the competition since the beginning of April.

A reminder that as well as following live text updates, you can listen to BBC Radio Scotland's coverage of today's games.

Tune into Sportsound via the link at the top of the page, or via BBC Sounds - whatever takes your fancy.

Craig Levein makes three changes to the St Johnstone side which lost at Tannadice last weekend, including a switch between the sticks.

Long-term injury absentee Ross Sinclair plays his first match since July 2023 in goal, replacing Josh Rae. Sinclair has been sidelined with an elbow injury suffered in a behind-closed-doors match a year ago.

Graham Carey drops to the bench, with Cammy MacPherson taking his berth in midfield. Striker Adama Sidibeh starts a four-game ban after being red carded against Dundee United.

Motherwell field an unchanged line-up having put Hearts to the sword six days ago.

Stuart Kettlewell does introduce loan signing Jack Vale to the matchday squad, as he looks to make the first outing of his second stint at the club from the bench.

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Two Dundee changes following the draw at Hibernian last weekend.

One of them, of course, is Luke McCowan, who left to join Celtic late last night, as Seb Palmer-Houlden drops to the bench.

In come new signing Sammy Braybrooke, on loan from Leicester, and Curtis Main.

Simon Murray takes the captain's armband today.

Meanwhile, there are three St Mirren switches as Alex Iacovitti, Jaden Brown and Jonah Ayunga all drop to the bench.

In come the returning Caolan Boyd-Munce, Scott Tanser and Mikael Mandron.

As expected, Kevin van Veen isn't in the matchday squad.

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Jane Lewis
BBC Scotland at McDiarmid Park

The McDiarmid Park pitch came in for some criticism last season, but I have to say it's looking pristine this afternoon in the sunshine.

Hopefully both teams will enjoy playing on the smooth surface. St Johnstone will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing defeat last weekend; Motherwell will be looking to build on what was an impressive result and showing last time out.

St Johnstone: Sinclair, Raymond, Cameron, Sanders, Wright, Neilson, MacPherson, Essel, M Smith, Clark, Kimpioka.

Substitutes: Hepburn, Holt, Carey, C Smith, Sprangler, McPake, Kirk, Keltjens, Franczak.

Motherwell: Oxborough, O'Donnell, Casey, Gordon, McGinn, Wilson, Zdravkowski, Halliday, Miller, Maswanhise, Robinson.

Substitutes: Hegyi, Seddon, Balmer, Sparrow, Kaleta, Ebiye, Wells, Watt, Vale.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland at Dens Park

Life after Luke McCowan starts for Dundee this afternoon, after the midfielder completed a move to Celtic late last night.

With McCowan in the last year of his contract, the club were right to cash in now from a financial point of view.

From a football point of view though the impact of losing such an influential player remains to be seen - perhaps we will get an indication today as the Dark Blues look to maintain their unbeaten start to the season at home to St Mirren.

As for Saints, their big bit of business was a last-gasp move to bring in Dutch striker Kevin Van Veen on a season-long loan from Groningen.

They will be hoping he can rediscover his scoring touch and get the goals that can turn round the fortunes of a St Mirren team that are looking to end a run of four defeats in all competitions.

It has been a difficult run for Stephen Robinson's side, but they will be keen to avoid another defeat; they will fancy their chances of prevailing against a team they had the upper hand against last season.

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