There are no home comforts for St Johnstone as they return to McDiarmid Park, with Tommy Wright's sixth-top side having gone six games without a win on their own turf.

However, they at least ended a run of three straight defeats in Perth by drawing at home to Hearts last Saturday and better away form means they are looking to extend their unbeaten run to four games.

Third-bottom Dundee are one of the few sides to beat the Saints on their travels this season - 3-2 at Dens Park in September.

And, despite losing to leaders Celtic in midweek, a couple of promising performances prior to that mean Neil McCann's side will make the short trip to Perth with some confidence that they can end a run of four games without a win at McDiarmid Park.

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald on BBC Radio Scotland: "Our away form has been a real concern, but our home form in recent months has been good.

"We have started games well and shown real gritty determination to hang on to the points.

"The main incentive is to get off the bottom and shut that gap to the other teams at the bottom of the table.

"It will probably be an open game with both teams desperate to get the three points."

Motherwell enter the Lanarkshire derby looking to arrest a collapse in form since their League Cup final defeat by Celtic.

Stephen Robinson's side have gone eight games without a win and only gathering two points during that run has led to his side dropping to eighth place.

However, those two draws came in their only home games during that run and they will be delighted to be back at Fir Park.

Accies are four points and one place behind their neighbours and have only won once in their last six outings.

They have failed to beat Well in their last seven meetings and lost their only previous meeting this season - 2-1 in Hamilton in October.

Kilmarnock are a different animal since Hibs won 3-0 at Rugby Park in October.

Under new manager Steve Clarke, the Ayrshire side are unbeaten in five games, four of them victories as they have moved up to seventh in the table.

Kris Boyd has been the main inspiration, the former Scotland striker finding the net five times in five games.

Killie also won on their last visit to Easter Road, but that was back in May 2014.

That was against a Hibs side on their way to relegation, but under present head coach Neil Lennon they sit fourth in the table in their first season back in the top flight.

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With St Mirren's 2-0 win over second-top Dundee United extending the Buddies' lead at the top of the Championship to five points last night, the focus turns to the bottom end today, especially as the third-versus-fourth clash between Livingston and Dunfermline Athletic is postponed.

Brechin City's cause looks already lost as the side sitting eight points adrift at the bottom host Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

As we reported earlier, Falkirk are about to lose assistant manager Jimmy Nicholl to Rangers and they will be further in trouble in second bottom if they fail to beat Queen of the South.

Caley Thistle and Queens are looking to enhance their chances of a promotion play-off place and pull further away from the bottom two.

Hibs head coach Neil Lennon says there is no problem between him and Hearts counterpart Craig Levein.

Lennon had said he felt Hearts kicked his players off the park in the Edinburgh derby, with Levein responding by saying Lennon made a career out of that as a player.

Ahead of today's game against Killie, Lennon told BBC Scotland: “It’s tongue in cheek, there's no issue with that at all.

"Me and Craig get on great, so there’s not issue there. We say these things with a bit of humour.

“It should be a good game against Kilmarnock, although they have the benefit of a few more days off.

"They play good football and are on a good run, but we want to finish the year on a high.”

Hearts manager Craig Levein has been explaining the reason for leaving Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty on the bench and his other changes.

"Kyle's come out because he’s at risk of injury. He’s played a lot of games in a short period of time.

"Fortunately, we’ve got Isma to come in.

"The other ones are enforced, Prince Buaben has a tight groin, Jamie Walker hurt his knee against Hibs and Connor Randall broke his hand.

"We already have Arnaud Djoum and [Rafal] Grzelak and [Krystian] Nowak injured as well, so today’s selection was pretty straightforward: just play the guys who are left.

Our midfield’s quite weak because we don’t have any of our main strength players in there, so we’ve crowded the midfield more than we normally do."

Levein was also asked about the chances of a sixth straight clean sheet.

"We’ve equalled the club record, so that’s a great achievement," he said. "It’s quite significant, since the club started we haven’t managed to keep six lean sheets in a row.

"We could have picked easier places to come to try to keep a clean sheet, but I’m sure everybody will be doing their utmost to make sure we don’t lose any goals and try to win the game."

There's only one survivor after four postponements in League Two, but it should be a cracker as the top two meet at Links Park.

Montrose go into the game six points ahead of Peterhead and seeking a fourth straight win after a run of five games without defeat.

But the visitors have two games in hand and are themselves on a run of four straight victories.

The sides drew their previous fixture, 1-1 at Peterhead in September, leaving the Blue Toon unbeaten in the last seven meetings between the sides.

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Jonathan Sutherland
BBC Sport Scotland at McDiarmid Park

Rangers have indicated they want Michael O’Halloran back from St Johnstone in January.

But Saints manager Tommy Wright remains hopeful he might get the on-loan forward back for the second half of the season.

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Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has been explaining his changes on BBC Radio Scotland.

"Greg Stewart played well against Partick," he said..

"Him and Considine had fitness tests this morning. We just feel it's a bit of a risk playing them both.

"There's a concern the nature of Andy's back injury may cause him problems, but I was happy enough after the fitness test to start him.

"Bearing in the mind the physical presence Hearts can offer at times, I thought Andy was the one we'd choose to start with.

"We spoke before the Partick game about trying to get to 45 points by the winter break - the onus is on us to try and step things up in the second part of the campaign.

"We've got the quality to win the game and hopefully we can show that motivation and determination to win the individual battles, which is always important against Hearts."

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If you missed out on our blow-by-blow account of the action at Celtic Park, here's Tom English's view of the draw between the Premiership leaders and city rivals Rangers.

On the park, it's all about the two-horse race at the top of the table in League One and both must have high hopes of another victory.

Leaders Ayr United host bottom side Forfar Athletic, while Raith Rovers, sitting five points behind but with two games in hand, also play host - to Stranraer.

It's troubled times for Stranraer, despite their side sitting fourth in the table, with reports in midweek that they had asked their players to take a pay cut amid pressure to cut costs from their bank.

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That threat seems to have subsided and, instead, they have had to cut the size of their squad, with three players already heading for new clubs when the January transfer window opens.

Top scorer Ryan Wallace has been sold to League One rivals Arbroath, fellow striker Danny Stoney has joined Lowland League outfit BSC Glasgow and defender Tom Lang is heading for League Two with Clyde.

Even so, Stranraer can move above Alloa Athletic, whose game against Airdrieonians has been postponed, into third should they put their troubles behind them and win in Kirkcaldy.

Hearts visit Pittodrie in the pick of the afternoon fixtures and Craig Levein's side are seeking a club record sixth consecutive clean sheet.

The Edinburgh outfit are also looking to protect an eight-game unbeaten run that has lifted them to fifth in the Premiership, but only one of those was away from home.

The second-top Dons, on the other hand, could record a third consecutive home win for the first time in 2017 and will be heartened by a five-game unbeaten run against today's visitors.

Forwards Kris Doolan and Miles Storey and midfielder Martin Woods return to the Partick Thistle line-up against Ross County.

Connor Sammon, Danny Devine and Andrew McCarthy drop to the bench.

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Ross County captain Andrew Davies has overcome a knee injury to take his place in central defence.

County also make three changes, with defender Sean Kelly, midfielder Jamie Lindsay and striker Billy Mckay starting.

Kenny van der Weg, Chris Eagles and Craig Curran drop to the bench.

Midfielder Danny Swanson makes his first appearance since mid-October as Hibs welcome Kilmarnock to Leith.

He comes in for Marvin Bartley, who drops to the bench, while Brandon Barker misses out after picking up an injury in the derby draw with Hearts.

Killie's Eamonn Brophy misses out following last weekend's win over Rangers, with veteran winger Chris Burke his replacement.

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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was asked on Radio Scotland if it was Moussa Dembele's last game for the club. The French striker was substituted after 61 minutes.

"I wouldn't know," Rodgers said. "It is something I haven't even thought about really at this moment in time.

"We have had nothing [in terms of offers] for any player."

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Rodgers did confirm that he thinks there will be new additions - and departures - by the time of the club's next fixture, against Brechin City in the Scottish Cup on 20 January.

"I suspect so," he added. "There will probably be some players that will go out who will want to play games, so I am sure something will be done."

Defender Kari Arnason returns to the Aberdeen line-up in the only change made by boss Derek McInnes from the midweek win over Partick Thistle.

Attacker Greg Stewart drops to the bench, having picked up a knock on Wednesday night, while Nicky Maynard has recovered from illness to take his place among the substitutes.

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Michael Smith returns to Hearts' defence in place of the injured Connor Randall and the visitors are also without midfielders Prince Buaben and Jamie Walker following the derby stalemate with Hibernian.

Sixteen-year-old Harry Cochrane returns from suspension, while fellow teen Anthony McDonald also starts, with Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty on the bench.

Midfielders Blair Alston, Murray Davidson and Stefan Scougall come into the St Johnstone line-up with Chris Millar and Steven MacLean dropping to the bench and Liam Craig suspended.

Davidson makes it despite having been expected to miss the game, while Brian Easton returns from injury as a substitute.

Midfielder Scott Allan, defender Kerr Waddell and striker Marcus Haber come into the Dundee side.

The injured Josh Meekings misses out along with Sofien Moussa miss and fellow striker Faissal El Bakhtaoui drops to the bench.

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Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson makes four changes to the side that lost to Rangers in midweek.

Captain Carl McHugh is suspended, while defender Charles Dunne misses out through injury.

Midfielder Liam Grimshaw and striker Alex Fisher also drop out of the starting XI.

Steven Hammel comes into defence, with Allan Campbell restored to midfield, while George Newell and Ryan Bowman lead the line.

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Hamilton's Ioannis Skondras is suspended and fellow defender Georgios Sarris is on his way out of the club.

Danny Redmond, Darren Lyon, and Antonion Rojano all miss out.

In come Massimo Donati, Ali Crawford, striker Rakish Bingham and defender Alex Gogic

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on Radio Scotland: "In the first half we created the better chances in the game but we didn't score.

"If we get that first goal, of course it can really change the mentality in the game.

"In the second half, we had to defend a bit more. They had a couple of chances - one half-chance and one big chance when Craig Gordon made a great save.

"So probably a point apiece is what both teams deserved.

"It's just one of them games when we didn't have too many opportunities.

"2017 has been an incredible year for us - we have created so many memories and records. But getting to this point of the season, we need that recovery [in the winter break] to get that freshness back into the legs again. We'll be back for the second half of the season better and fresher."

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