St Mirren boss Oran Kearney gives first starts to January signings Mateo Muzek and Duckens Nazon, telling BBC Sportsound he "wants to get them out there and playing quickly".

"Ideally you want them to make a huge impact because the turnaround of players we’ve had at the club, when we get that bit of freshness, without the baggage of the first part of the season, we want them to be carefree and have a good go at it," the Northern Irishman added.

"All the research we’ve done, Nazon has a real good pedigree and has scored goals everywhere he’s been. He looked sharp on Saturday [against Rangers] and looks to have all the attributes."

Celtic went into the winter break on a downer after manager Brendan Rodgers' first ever loss to Rangers but the champions have hit the ground running in 2019 with five straight wins without conceding a goal.

The fixture list has been kind and tonight's visitors did not look in very good shape last weekend as Aberdeen came from a goal down to win at Easter Road without much fuss.

Remarkably, Callum McGregor clocks up his 50th game of the season for club and country this evening and the Celtic midfielder shows absolutely no signs of fatigue. The 25-year-old has hit two goals in his past three outings and set up the second in Sunday's win at St Johnstone.

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Motherwell were a shambles when knocked out of the Scottish Cup at home to Championship leaders Ross County but manager Stephen Robinson got just the response he wanted with three league wins on the spin.

That improved form has much to do with a trio of whipper-snappers, with Allan Campbell, 20, and David Turnbull and Jake Hastie, both 19, playing with tenacity, tempo and the freedom of youth.

St Mirren have cast the net wide in search of new recruits but time is running out for the Paisley side, who have conceded 11 in three successive defeats, which stretches their losing league run to five.

The hosts have managed just three Premiership wins all season but their most recent success was at Fir Park, which may give them a glimmer of hope.

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Livingston delivered one of the season's most stunning results when they walloped Hearts 5-0 in mid-December.

However, the wheels have fallen off for the West Lothian side, who have not managed a win since. Gary Holt's side have now lost five on the bounce, including a 1-0 Scottish Cup reverse at Tynecastle.

Hearts have found form again after a November-December wobble, which coincides with the return of Steven Naismith.

The Jambos have won five of the six matches the experienced striker has started since his recovery from a knee problem.

He's not perfect though. He did miss a penalty when Livi earned a 0-0 draw at Tynecastle back in September.

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Kilmarnock could do with a win after picking up one point from their last two outings but Dundee are scrapping for their lives at the wrong end of the table.

Jim McIntyre's side were absolutely hopeless when Queen of the South turfed them out of the Scottish Cup but turned in a much-improved display at Hamilton at the weekend, only to be denied by a late leveller.

Dundee are winless in their past six home league meetings with Kilmarnock (D4 L2) and the men from Ayrshire have lost just one of their past nine Premiership games on the road (W4 D4 L1), keeping four clean sheets in their last six away games.

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St Johnstone have a five-point cushion in what looks like the race for one remaining spot in the top six and will be delighted to be taking on the Accies after a run of three defeats.

That's because the Perth side are looking for an eighth win in a row against tonight's hosts.

New Hamilton boss Brian Rice began his reign with a spirited draw against fellow strugglers Dundee, which at least halted a sequence of five defeats but the club's sorry run without a win in all competitions stands at 10.

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Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson on BBC Sportsound: “We’ve named the same team now for four games in a row.

"That comes with winning games, a little bit of consistency and sticking by the boys that have done so well.

"This is a big, important game for us. St Mirren have signed a lot of new players, a little bit of an unknown, but if we take our game to them like we did at Livingston, we’ll be okay.”

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Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland at Celtic Park

Progress is being made in the search for a new manager but Hibs will not have a new man in place before the weekend.

Eddie May and Grant Murray will continue looking after the first team against Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup.

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos has been sent off in both league matches against Aberdeen this season.

The Colombian, who keeps Jermain Defoe out of the side tonight, was dismissed for kicking out at Scott McKenna - although that was later downgraded to a yellow card - and then for two challenges on Dons skipper Graeme Shinnie.

The 22-year-old was missing through suspension for the League Cup semi-final defeat but manager Steven Gerrard has no plans to emphasise the need for cool heads.

"I'm sure he will be aware of what the atmosphere is going to be like," Gerrard said. "He has been to Pittodrie on numerous occasions. I spoke to him after the previous red cards so I don't see the point of treating Alfredo any different to anyone else.

"I think he is trying to improve that side of his game. But I still want him to play on the edge because that's when he is at his best. That's the reason why he is the top scorer in the league, that's the reason why the opposition try and nullify his threat and are physical with him."

"We don't want to take that edge away from him, but of course we want to channel it in the right direction."

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A solitary change for Dundee as boss Jim McIntyre continues to bed in his 10 January signings.

Sunderland loanee Ethan Robson drops to the bench, to be replaced by Andrew Nelson, who joined from the Black Cats last month.

Steve Clarke hands a Kilmarnock debut to Conor McAleny, the striker who signed on loan from Fleetwood Town in January, and restores Kirk Broadfoot to his defence.

Mikael Ndjoli and Scott Boyd are among the substitutes, along with Youssouf Mulumbu, who is in line for his "second debut" after his loan switch from Celtic.

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Three changes for Hamilton with Lennard Sowah, Steve Davies and Dougie Imrie coming in for Tony Andreu, Scott Martin and the injured Scott McMann.

A couple of alterations for Saints as Danny Swanson drops to the bench and Murray Davidson misses out with Liam Craig and Michael O'Halloran starting.

Just the one change for Hearts with Olly Lee replacing the benched Callumn Morrison. Uche Ikpeazu is among the subs as he makes his way back from foot surgery.

Livingston make three alterations. Hakeem Odoffin, Ricki Lamie and Steve Lawson start, Craig Sibbald and Chris Erskine drop to the bench and Scott Tiffoney misses out.

January signings Mateo Muzek and Duckens Nazon make their first St Mirren starts tonight. Muzek plays on the left of a back-five, Nazon leads the line with Simeon Jackson.

Greg Tansey and Aaron Erahon drop out after Saturday’s defeat 4-0 by Rangers.

Motherwell, perhaps unsurprisingly, are unchanged for the fourth game in a row. They've won their last three matches without conceding a goal.

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Hamilton Academical: Woods, McGowan, Kilgallon, Gogic, Sowah, Gordon, Davies, MacKinnon, Imrie, Oakley, Boyd.

Substitutes: Fulton, Keatings, Miller, Penny, Andreu, Martin, Smith.

St Johnstone: Clark, Foster, Kerr, Shaughnessy, Tanser, Callachan, Goss, Craig, O'Halloran, Kennedy, Watt.

Substitutes: Bell, Alston, Kane, Wotherspoon, Swanson, Gordon, Keown.

Celtic: Bain, Toljan, Boyata, Simunovic, Izaguirre, Brown, McGregor, Christie, Burke, Sinclair, Weah.

Substitutes: Gordon, Bitton, Bayo, Hayes, Lustig, Henderson, Johnston.

Hibernian: Marciano, Gray, McGregor, Hanlon, Stevenson, Milligan, Slivka, Mackie, Gauld, Shaw, Kamberi.

Substitutes: Dabrowski, Nelom, Johnson, Omeonga, Mallan, McNulty, Bigirimana.

St. Mirren: Hladky, P McGinn, Baird, Popescu, Ferdinand, Muzek, S McGinn, Lyons, Dreyer, Jackson, Nazon.

Substitutes: Holmes, Flynn, Mullen, Tansey, McAllister, Corbu, Erhahon.

Motherwell: Gillespie, Tait, Dunne, Aldred, Grimshaw, Campbell, Gorrin, Turnbull, Ariyibi, Hastie, Main.

Substitutes: Ferguson, McHugh, Hartley, Frear, Johnson, Scott, McCormack.

Aberdeen: Lewis, Logan, Considine, Hoban, McKenna, Lowe, Shinnie, Ferguson, Mackay-Steven Stewart, Cosgrove.

Substitutes: Cerny, Gleeson, Wilson, McGinn, Devlin, May, Ball.

Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Worrall, Goldson, Barisic, McCrorie, Jack, Arfield, Candeias, Kent, Morelos.

Substitutes: Foderingham, Katic, Halliday, Coulibaly, Davis, Lafferty, Defoe.

Dundee: Dieng, Ralph, Kusunga, Horsefield, Curran, Hadenius, McGowan, Woods, Wright, Dales, Nelson.

Substitutes: Parish, Kerr, O’Dea, O’Sullivan, McGowan, Miller, Moore.

Kilmarnock: Bachmann, O’Donnell, Broadfoot, Findlay, Taylor, Tshibola, Dicker, Power, Burke, Jones, McAleny.

Substitutes: MacKay, Bruce, McKenzie, Ndjoli, Boyd, Millar, Mulumbu.

Heart of Midlothian: Doyle, Smith, Shaughnessy, Souttar, Berra, Bozanic, Lee, Clare, Djoum, Naismith, Mulraney.

Substitutes: Zlamal, Mitchell, Ikepeazu, Cochrane, Dikamona, Vanecek, Lee, Morrison.

Livingston: Kelly, Gallagher, Halkett, Lithgow, Odoffin, Lamie, Lawless, Lawson, Byrne, Pittman, Hardie.

Substitutes: Stewart, Brown, Blues, Jacobs, Sibbald, Wylde, Erskine.

Aberdeen beef up their side with the return of strapping central defender Scott McKenna. Forward Stevie May is the man dropping out.

Three changes for Rangers as Connor Goldson is fit enough for his first game of 2019, taking over from Nikola Katic. High-profile January arrivals Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis also drop out as Daniel Candeias and Ryan Jack come back in.