Former Aberdeen captain Willie Miller on Sportsound

"Derek McInnes is right to stress the positives this season but the negative part is losing so many goals and he's taken steps to rectify that tonight. The loss of Russell Anderson has been a huge factor."

Five minutes until kick-off. A win tonight would lift Aberdeen above Celtic, who play on Sunday, while maximum points would take Motherwell on to 10 points and propel them up a couple of places.

Image source, SNS Group

Midfielder Josh Law was recruited over the summer to bring some guile to the Motherwell midfield.

It's fair to say the 25-year-old has not made quite the same impression that his brother Nicky did at Fir Park but it's still early days for a player who was last with Alfreton Town in the fifth tier of English football.

This is a second Friday outing in as many weeks for Aberdeen and again the opposition are from Lanarkshire. Derek McInnes's side were turned over 3-0 by Hamilton Accies and can have few complaints about the scoreline.

The Reds were just about every pundit's pick for second place but have yet to really hit the straps.

Aberdeen have been more convincing at home although they did surrender a 2-0 lead in a draw with St Mirren to miss out on fifth victory on the bounce.

Since drawing at Celtic Park last month, Motherwell have been bundled out of the League Cup and given away 10 goals in three league losses.

But the visitors have a great record at Pittodrie, unbeaten on their last nine trips to the north east.

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Peter Pawlett is back in the Aberdeen starting line-up and it looks like he'll be playing just off central striker David Goodwillie, with Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn out wide.

"We can always tinker with the system to allow us to be a bit tighter. We've got a couple of changes tonight with Rooney and Robson coming out the team. McGinn and Pawlett come back in - that's more to do with a system change," said manager Derek McInnes.

On the last day of last season Craig Reid scored in the last minute at Pittodrie to lift Motherwell above Aberdeen into second place.

That made it back-to-back campaigns as runners-up and three top-three finishes in a row for the Steelmen.

However, it's been a different story for Stuart McCall's side this season, with just two victories in 10 games.

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall on BBC Radio Scotland

"To get a victory we've got to improve our performances. Of late we have lost too many goals. Defensively we've been poor. But you're always wanting a balance. You want to be strong defensively but I always look to carry an attacking threat and I think in Sutton, Ojamaa, Law, people like that - hopefully we can carry it to Aberdeen at times.

"You look at their front players and we're going to have to be at our best defensively. Last season we came and got two clean sheets and we'd be delighted if we could do that again."

Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes on BBC Radio Scotland

"I just feel as though change may well help us. Jamie has been great for me since we came in. He was excellent last season. In one or two games he has maybe not quite reached the same standards and we've got a good goalkeeper we've signed in Scott Brown.

"We played him against Livingston in the cup a couple of weeks back and he was excellent that night. Keepers get a bit more extra grace and loyalty because you are reluctant to change your goalkeeper but we feel Scott is deserving his chance. He's got the trust of all the players. He trains at a high level every day."

A bit of a surprise to see Dons keeper Jamie Langfield benched, along with top scorer Adam Rooney.

Motherwell make four changes, with Stevie Hammell, Josh Law, Fraser Kerr and Craig Reid coming in.

Aberdeen: Brown, Jack, Logan, Considine, Reynolds, Flood, Pawlett, Taylor, Hayes, McGinn, Goodwillie. Subs: Langfield, Rose, Smith, Robson, Monakana, Rooney, Shankland.

Motherwell: Twardzik, Kerr, Hammell, Ramsden, McManus, Lasley, Reid, Francis-Angol, Law, Ojamaa, Sutton. Subs: Nielsen, Carswell, Ainsworth, O'Brien, McHugh, Erwin, Leitch.

Good evening and welcome to our coverage of Aberdeen v Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.

There are a lot of surprises in the league table, not least Hamilton leading the way and champions Celtic sitting in fifth spot. But these two have also been below par over the opening quarter.

The Dons occupy sixth place and Motherwell are slumped all the way down in 11th.