Brian Rice's Hamilton Academical are not in action this weekend, so the head coach is taking the opportunity to check out two of his future opponents, with Accies hosting United next month.

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Tyrone Smith
BBC Scotland at Tannadice

Not the best day for a game of football at Tannadice. Amid the very heavy downpours, the wind is howling around the ground. Not a day to be a goalkeeper anyway - or an outfield player either if am being honest.

We're get under way around Scotland...

Ross County defender Tom Grivosti is back on the bench after suffering a slight hamstring strain following his first start in a year as he recovers from a troublesome foot injury.

The 21-year-old revealed this week that: "It got to the stage where I wondered if I would get back to the same level as I was.

"But I believed in myself that I could put the work in and I think I showed on Saturday that I’ve come back on a good level quite early on in my comeback."

Grivosti had not expected to make his return so early until injuries forced manager Stuart Kettlewell's hand and he was keen to face up to Dundee United's Scotland striker, Lawrence Shankland.

"I played against Shankland a couple of times in the Championship, he was brilliant for Ayr United and I knew he could take the step up to the Premiership 100%," he recalled. "I made my debut against him, so that was a tough debut, but we won the game."

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Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson: "Last week we were great in beating Ross County, but it's going to take a different type of performance today.

"We're starting to find form and this will be a big test for us in terms of winning games the ugly way.

"Livingston throw balls into your box at every opportunity, so we have to cope with that."

Motherwell have eight academy players in their squad today and Robinson adds: "It's what we do - develop boys. We will put them in and if I think they're good enough they'll play."

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Livingston head coach Gary Holt: "The wind is brutal. It's going three different ways and is going to have an impact.

"But this will be two good sides having a go at each other."

On striker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Holt adds: "He's getting there. He's not played for a long time and we're trying to get more and more out of him.

"People think he's a target man, but he's not - he's exceptional with both feet."

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Third-tier leaders Elgin City look to maintain their 100% league start away to one of the pre-season title favourites, Edinburgh City.

Three sides sitting two points behind are all away from home.

Pre-season favourites Queen's Park visit Stranraer, Stenhousemuir are at Cowdenbeath, while Annan Athletic are away to Stirling Albion.

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Dundee United assistant manager Stephen Frail: "Marc McNulty just had a little hamstring injury yesterday in training.

"Hopefully we get a good week's training with Marc and have him fit for St Mirren on Friday night.

"Ross County, like us, have had a reasonably promising start to the season. We know their threats, we hopefully know their weaknesses and we hope to try and exploit them."

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Game of the day in the third tier is in Aberdeen, where leaders Cove Rangers, in their first-ever season in League One, host one of the pre-season title favourites, relegated Partick Thistle.

Second-top Falkirk host East Fife.

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With Hearts preoccupied at Hampden, Fife rivals Raith Rovers and Dunfermline Athletic have the chance to establish a three-point gap at the top of the second tier.

Rovers are away to Dundee in the game of the day, with the Pars hosting a Queen of the South side looking for their first points.

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Dundee United are in talks with their players over wage deferrals or cuts and sporting director Tony Asghar tells BBC Scotland the club hope to "rectify it as soon as possible".

"We as a club had set a strategy on a month-to-month basis on how we were looking at the finances," he says on Sportsound.

"It culminated in how the government responded to furlough, which we utilised quite radically. We're trying to come up with a plan that's going to create sustainability, keep people in jobs."

And, responding to reports that deferrals and cuts would not affect recent signings, Asghar said: "Whatever got leaked in the paper was an untruth in my opinion. No decision has been made."

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Having previously won four games in a row, Livingston are now looking to avoid a third consecutive defeat.

Motherwell are aiming to build on a 4-0 win at home to Ross County but have not scored in three visits to Almondvale.

With Motherwell ahead of their hosts on goal difference in eighth place, it all boils down to a likely close contest, especially as it finished 2-2 between them at Fir Park in August.

United fans will have been anticipating a barrage of goals considering on-loan Reading striker Marc McNulty had been deemed fit enough to join fit-again fellow Scotland forward Lawrence Shankland and Nicky Clark, an often underrated striking threat, in their team.

However, while Micky Mellon's side are unbeaten in three outings, they have not won in four top-flight games and have only found the net once in four games since thumping Brechin City 6-2 in the League Cup - a game for which neither McNulty or Shankland were available. McNulty, of course, drops out today again through injury.

County are looking to recover from a 4-0 defeat in Motherwell that ended their three-match unbeaten run, but Stuart Kettlewell's side have yet to win in their last three trips from Dingwall and have failed to score in each of their last four Premiership games. What chances a 0-0 draw?

The Highlanders have also not beaten United in four outings and lost to today's hosts 2-1 at Victoria Park in August.

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Ross Stewart's future at Ross County hangs in the balance after manager Stuart Kettlewell revealed this week that the striker has so far not responded to the club's desire to talk about a contract extension.

The 24-year-old's current deal ends next summer and the striker has already attracted interest from English clubs without meeting County's valuation.

"We’d love to sign Ross on a longer-term contract, but we understand the interest and where he wants to go in the next phase of his career," Kettlewell said. "I’ve got a really good relationship with his agent and I’ve badgered him once or twice about getting him to sign a new contract.

"It will surprise people - Ross isn’t on a massive contract at all at Ross County. It would stun people probably the contract he’s on here. So money is not the object for Ross, but it also shows there are grounds there for us to improve it."

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Ross County manager Stuart Kettlewell: "The pitch looks fine. There's a couple of damp patches on it, but I think we're used to it in this country.

"You've got two decent teams, two pretty well-matched teams.

"At times, our general play's very good. I feel we're creating enough chances. I don't feel as if our goalkeeper's making many saves and we're conceding goals.

"We want to eradicate those simple mistakes."

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Tyrone Smith
BBC Scotland at Tannadice

It has been a turbulent week for Dundee United, with the club in talks with their players and coaching staff over wage cuts or deferrals – as the financial fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread through Scottish football.

While that rumbles on off the park, United will be hoping it doesn’t impact on things on it this afternoon as they look to end a run of four Premiership games without win.

They go into the visit of County on back of two goalless draws.

While they appear to have tightened things up defensively following two goalless draws and their challenge now is to start making an impact at the other end of the park.

They’ll be hoping to take advantage of any frailties in a County team who have been leaking goals while also failing to rediscover their scoring touch.

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Midfielder Josh Mullin replaces defender Efe Ambrose - who drops to the bench - in Livingston's only change from the 2-0 defeat by Rangers last weekend.

On-loan goalkeeper Robby McCrorie returns to the squad after being ineligible at Ibrox against his parent club, with Max Stryjek keeping his starting place having impressed at Ibrox.

Striker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas starts a home league match for the first time as he bids to get off the mark for Gary Holt's side.

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United had a few players carrying bumps and bruises going into today's game with Ross County and manager Micky Mellon makes three changes.

Defender Liam Smith and midfielders Calum Butcher and Peter Pawlett come in, Dillon Powers drops to the bench and Mark Connolly and Scotland striker Marc McNulty miss out altogether.

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Ross County make three changes, with Connor Randall returning from suspension at right-back, Stephen Kelly back in the midfield and Billy Mckay joining Ross Stewart in attack. Tom Grivosti, who made his first start in a year following injury last week, Harry Paton and Michael Gardyne drop to the bench.

County have problems in defence with Callum Morris and Keith Watson unavailable while Carl Tremarco, who is on the bench, has had a calf problem.

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Goalkeeper Aaron Chapman makes his first Motherwell start having replaced the injured Trevor Carson at half-time in last Saturday's 4-0 rout of Ross County.

With Carson sidelined until next year, new signing Jordan Archer, the former Scotland squad keeper, is among the substitutes as back-up.

Meanwhile, Callum Lang is preferred to Chris Long up front in Motherwell's only other change as they seek back-to-back wins inside 90 minutes for the first time this season.

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