St Johnstone should be ahead here as they continue to look the more likely of the two sides.

Glenn Middleton, still hot from his Scottish Cup heroics, leaves Kristoffer Ajer for dead before delivering a delightful cross from the right.

James Brown just gets his head to it and ends up taking it away from the toe of the waiting Chris Kane.

Ianis Hagi goes through and gets to the ball before Max Stryjek and the challenge leads to Rangers being awarded a spot-kick.

Depsite their Covid issues this week it's the away side that have started the brightest here in Glasgow.

James Brown with a couple of driving runs in the opening moments, the second of which leads to a Craig Bryson shot which is well blocked by Kristoffer Ajer.

Ryan Kent is next to try to break the deadlock at the Tony Macaroni Arena, his fierce shot whizzing wide of the Livingston goal.

We're under way at Celtic Park.

Chris Long with a superb solo effort for Motherwell, cutting inside before unleashing a strike just wide of the post - their first real opportunity.

Up the other end, Shankland looks to atone for his missed penalty as he bursts into the box, but it is dealt with well by the Motherwell defence. Despite that missed penalty, the Scotland striker looks lively tonight.

Ianis Hagi collects an Alfredo Morelos pass around 30 yards from goal and flashes a shot wide of Livingston's left-hand post.

Striker Lawrence Shankland fired Dundee United into the lead at a sun-kissed Tannadice.

However, he spurned the chance to double the hosts' lead when he fired his penalty wide of the target.

Image source, SNS

Ouch!published at 28 mins

28 mins

Dundee United 1-0 Motherwell

Robbie Crawford - who came on for Allan Campbell early in this match - is now receiving treatment for a head knock. Micky Mellon will not want to be forced into a second change in the same position after less than half an hour.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is proving a nuisance to the Rangers defence. He draws a foul from Jack Simpson, earning the defender a booking for the challenge.

Josh Mullin takes the free-kick but it is way too high and it remains goalless in West Lothian.

Speaking to BBC Sportsound St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson explains that due to Covid issues he's been unable to field a full squad this evening and his side haven't even trained since Sunday: "Obviously we have an ongoing issue at the club and it's something we're trying to rectify with the SFA and the government so the squad is stretched pretty thin.

"We haven't trained or done anything since the game on Sunday. We hadn't done much last week. We all know about Covid and we need to try and make sure we can stamp it out of the club as quick as we can, hence the limited numbers we have tonight.

"First and foremost the safety of the players and others is paramount, that's the biggest thing for me it's just obviously not a great time at the end of the season with big games coming up.

Image source, SNS

"Bobby Zlamal has only trained for one day with us. It's one of those, that's just the situation we're in. We've never had a big squad and thankfully we aren't fighting relegation."

Livingston threaten for the first time and it's all about Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who takes the ball under pressure and allows Josh Mullin time to get forward on the left before releasing the winger.

Jon McLaughlin comes off his line and blocks well from Mullin.

Lawrence Shankland sends his spot kick fizzing wide of goal. From hero to villain as the striker spurns the chance to nab his second and double United's lead.

Louis Appere does well to win the penalty from Tyler Magloire - the on-loan Blackburn Rovers defender kicked out wildly as the winger kicked the ball past him.

Nicky Devlin has taken a sore one for Livingston early in the match. The right-back, who offers so much going forward for his side, gets some attention from the physio and leaves the pitch before re-entering the fray.

Image source, SNS

As we approach the 15-minute mark at both Tannadice and the Tony Macaroni, we're still waiting for the first goal in the 18:00 kick-offs.