Hearts manager Steven Naismith tells BBC Scotland: "The schedule in general [has forced the changes]. Beni Baningime misses out because he has probably had the biggest load out of everybody in the squad and he is feeling the effects of it. I think it was right to make that change - we do not want to risk losing him.

"The personnel that come in, we just feel they are right for this game. In these congested fixture periods you have big highs and we had that on Wednesday night - this game is tough because of that and staying at that level.

"We need fresh legs in the team but also these players and their attributes fit the way we want to play."

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes tells BBC Scotland: "Corrie [Ndaba] went over on his ankle during the week. He didn't train yesterday. He's got a wee bit of history on that ankle.

"He's available to come on, but Joe Wright has been ready for a couple of weeks now. It's good that we've got good options.

"I'm pleased with what we're getting at the minute. There's been consistency of results and good performances.

"I'd still like us to score more goals but the platform has been our clean sheet record. As a team, we've been pretty good.

"Our players are in a good place. We've always enjoyed playing at home. We put pressure on ourselves to win this one."

Dundee manager Tony Docherty tells BBC Scotland: "I hope to see a positive reaction [from the Celtic defeat]. This is an away ground, you know how good Kilmarnock are at home. We'll need to be at our best.

"I think it's very much like any game. You look at the opposition and look at what strengths they have and try and negate that. You look at weaknesses too and we'll try to exploit that.

"They'll be carrying confidence, but we've got a confident team too. We've go two games to go before the winter break, I hope to get maximum points before that.

"I've always said I've got a really good squad here and I can mix it up when I need to. I've brought [the players] in with freshness, but also a game plan.

"Hopefully it can result in a good performance that leads to points."

Image source, SNS

Livingston manager David Martindale tells BBC Scotland: "We've been a wee bit unfortunate in games, but definitely at the top-end of the park we aren't carrying any luck. Any type of goal would be a blessing right now.

"It's a challenging period, I won't tell lies. The players take a knock, their self-esteem takes a knock. You lose confidence and momentum. On the flip side of that, one decent result can kickstart everything. We need to get that one win.

"It's a big game today, we all know it, but there is still a lot to be played. I'll concentrate on us. We need to do a lot better at the top end of the park.

"Over the last three or four games, we have had great opportunities to win games. Hopefully we carry that wee bit of luck today."

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson tells BBC Scotland: "Jonah [Ayunga] and Stav Nahmani have had knocks. Conor McMenamin is injured. That made my mind up [on the changes].

"Lewis Jamieson has been terrific, deserves his opportunity, and big Mika [Mandron] is still our leading goalscorer. It's small tweaks, we've been doing a lot of good things, but you have to put the ball in the back of the net to win football matches.

"We haven't become a bad team and we weren't the best team in the world when we went eight unbeaten.

"You have to remind them what they're doing well. We've got to get away from getting beat by one goal, that comes from a mistake."

Image source, SNS

Aberdeen boss Barry Robson tells BBC Scotland: "It's been a while. We're desperate to get going. We've been playing cup, league, European games, different standards - we're used to the disruption.

"We got on the training pitch for two days in a row, which we've not been able to do for three or four months.

"We want to play games, that's what the players want. It's good to be home as well, we've not had a lot of home games.

"We need to make sure everyone is at it, get the fans with us. Every team goes up and down in the league season and they'll make the game hard for us.

"We just need to focus on us and play fast, exciting football."

Image source, SNS

Tyrone Smith
BBC Scotland at Pittodrie

Image source, SNS

The build up to this could probably be described as unconventional, certainly for Aberdeen anyway.

After back-to-back league wins over Hearts and Livingston, their hopes of getting some momentum going have been dashed after their games against Dundee and Motherwell fell foul of the weather.

It leaves Aberdeen eighth in the table, but with an eye-watering number of games in hand.

But there is no point worrying about the fixture congestion they will likely face after the January break.

Instead, they need to focus on taking care of business against a St Mirren side that have been struggling for form of late.

The men from Paisley remain handily placed in fifth despite having only won two of their last 11 games.

And worryingly for manager Stephen Robinson, his side have failed to score in their last three games, and hit the net just twice in the last seven, both in same match.

Image source, SNS

Despite a busy schedule, Derek McInnes understandably doesn't want to change too much in Kilmarnock's recent run of form.

The only change from that big win in Paisley midweek sees Corrie Ndaba drop to the bench. He's replaced by Joe Wright, meaning Stuart Findlay will likely shift over to left-back.

There's more of a shake-up from McInnes' former assistant as Tony Docherty makes four changes - and a potential system switch - from the Boxing Day defeat to Celtic.

Mohamad Sylla, Ryan Howley, Josh Mulligan and Scott Tiffoney come in, with Cammy Kerr, Lyall Cameron, Malachi Boateng and Zak Rudden making way.

Stuart Kettlewell makes three changes to the Motherwell side that lost to Rangers on Christmas Eve.

Paul McGinn starts in the centre of defence, while forward pair Theo Bair and Oli Shaw start in attack.

Bevis Mugabi, Harry Paton and Callum Slattery all drop to the bench, while Calum Butcher returns to the matchday squad following a calf injury which kept the midfielder out for the last four games.

David Martindale makes just the one change to the team that drew with St Johnstone on Wednesday.

Cristian Montano makes his first start for Livingston since a 2-0 defeat to Rangers on 12 November. The Colombian's inclusion sees midfielder Andrew Shinnie start from the bench.

Meanwhile, defender Tom Parkes returns to the squad following a head injury that forced him off at Celtic Park last Saturday.

Steven Naismith makes three changes to the side that beat Hibs earlier this week.

Alex Lowry comes in for his first start since the 2-1 defeat to Aberdeen on 9 December. Craig Halkett and Kyosuke Tagawa are also in from the start.

Stephen Kingsley and Alan Forrest are dropped to the bench while Beni Baningime doesn't make the matchday squad.

Derek Adams has had plenty of time to think about his squad for today's match having seen their previous two games postponed.

Will Nightingale serves his suspension after his sending off in the game against Dundee on 16 December. Connor Randall also misses out.

Josh Sims makes the starting XI for the first time since November while Max Sheaf gets his first start for the club.

It's been a little while since Aberdeen last played in the usually congested festive period. Ten days ago they beat Livingston 2-1 at Pittodrie and Barry Robson changes two from that side.

In come Slobodan Rubezic, back at the heart of the three-man defence, with Jamie McGrath playing just behind Duk and Bojan Miovski. Angus MacDonald and Dante Polvara drop to the bench.

St Mirren have struggled for goals of late and Stephen Robinson changes two in search of that precious resource.

Mikael Mandron and Lewis Jamieson start, replacing Jonah Ayunga and Toyosi Olusanya from the team that lost 1-0 to Kilmarnock just three days ago.

Image source, SNS

Hearts: Clark, Kent, Halkett, Nieuwenhof, Shankland, Atkinson, Rowles, Cochrane, Denholm, Tagawa, Lowry.

Substitutes: Gordon, Kingsley, Haring, Oda, Forrest, Sibbick, Pollock, Tait, Vargas.

Ross County: Laidlaw, Purrington, Baldwin, Leak, Brown, Allardice, Sheaf, Dhanda, Sims, White.

Substitutes: Munro, Turner, Loturi, Harmon, Henderson, Samuel, Brophy, Reid.

Kilmarnock: Dennis, Mayo, Wright, Deas, Findlay, Armstrong, Watson, Lyons, Kennedy, Watkins, Vassell.

Substitutes: O'Hara, Ndaba, McKenzie, Sanders, Murray, Polworth, Donnelly, Dallas, Mackay-Steven.

Dundee: Carson, Donnelly, McGhee, Shaughnessy, Beck, Howley, Sylla, Tiffoney, McCowan, Mulligan, Bakayoko.

Substitutes: Ledgzdins, Kerr, Cameron, Ashcroft, Reilly, Robertson, Rudden, Boateng, Lewis.

Motherwell: Kelly, Spencer, O'Donnell, McGinn, Blaney, Gent, Spittal, Zdravkovski, Bair, Shaw, Biereth.

Substitutes: Oxborough, Mugabi, Slattery, Obika, Paton, L Ross, M Ross, Butcher, Wilkinson.

Livingston: George, Nottingham, Devlin, Obileye, Penrice, Pittman, Holt, Montano, Nouble, Anderson, Guthrie.

Substitutes: Hamilton, Parkes, Brandon, Bradley, Sangare, Shinnie, De Lucas, Ledingham, Lawal.

Aberdeen: Roos, Gartenmann, Rubezic, Jensen, Devlin, Clarkson, Shinnie, McGarry, McGrath, Duk, Miovski.

Substitutes: Doohan, Barron, Hayes, Sokler, Morris, Polvara, Duncan, MacDonald, Milne.

St Mirren: Hemming, Bolton, Gogic, Taylor, Fraser, O'Hara, Baccus, Tanser, Kiltie, Jamieson, Mandron.

Substitutes: Urminsky, Dunne, Small, Flynn, Boyd-Munce, Olusanya, Greive, Nahmani, Ayunga.

We'll pile in reaction from Celtic Park as we get it, but we've got four other games in the top flight today...

Celtic will end the year eight points clear.

Rangers have two games in hand.

It's over. That's a HUGE win for Celtic.

Two fine strikes from Paulo Bernardo and Kyogo had the hosts cruising against a Rangers side who went down to 10 men when Leon Balogun was sent off.

But, my days, Celtic made it hard for themselves as they had to deal with a lot of pressure after James Tavernier's late free-kick.

We're still playing on...

We've hit the 100th minute and Celtic have a throw deep in their half.

That's surely it...