Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at Celtic Park

With just nine games to go, neither Celtic nor Rangers can really afford to stumble, particularly in home fixtures.

Celtic are limited by injury issues again, with Liam Scales missing out but the demand remains the same. They need a consistency of performance and results from here on in.

A win puts that little bit of pressure on Rangers who face a tricky trip to Dundee tomorrow amid their hectic schedule.

St Johnstone have troubled Celtic this term, though. A 0-0 here early in the season and they then held a lead until the final quarter in Perth before finally succumbing. They need that sort of display here once again.

Jane Lewis
BBC Scotland at Fir Park

What a week for Aberdeen... The high of winning through in the Scottish Cup was quickly followed by the confusion over Neil Warnock's departure, then came the low of defeat in Dundee.

How does this all affect the players and their mindset? The Dons haven't won in the league since 2 January.

In Motherwell they face a team who’ve not been in action since that morale-boosting win at Ibrox.

The Fir Park side might have been a tad frustrated at kicking their heels last weekend, so should be champing at the bit to get back out there as they try to keep their recent form going. With back-to-back wins they’ll be looking to extend that this afternoon as they eye the top six.

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Scotland at Rugby Park

Kilmarnock will fancy their chances of leapfrogging St Mirren with a quick bounce-back from their Scottish Cup disappointment. Why? Because they haven't lost to the Paisley Saints at Rugby Park in the league in over 10 years. May 2013 to be exact.

Among the scorers that day for St Mirren, to give the passage of time some context? An 18-year-old John McGinn...

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson tells BBC Sportsound: "Both sides are doing very well in the league. We have to turn up and play our game. We know what we're good at, we've been good in recent weeks and we have to do that again.

"A couple enforced changes. James Bolton broke his hand in training, Elvis Bwomono was sick over Wednesday and Thursday. We need people to be 100% right going into this game.

"We can't control anything outwith ourselves. We don't want to get involved in a second-ball game."

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Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell tells BBC Scotland: "It's been a nice place, we worked really hard last week. There are still plenty of levels for us to go up.

"Aberdeen have played twice since we last played so it's been an opportunity to watch them. There's been a lot of noise during the week about them.

"What I've tried to centre around is the fact Peter Leven took the game against Celtic before Neil Warnock came in and got a really good result and performance."

Aberdeen caretaker boss Peter Leven tells BBC Scotland: "It's been tough at times, but I've been put in charge and I'm hoping to get the best out of the boys today.

"Results haven't been good, but we've got to pick ourselves up. I've showed them this week how good they are.

"We've worked hard on Thursday and Friday, it's up to the players now."

Hibernian manager Nick Montgomery tells BBC Scotland: "We took eight points from our last 12 and were unlucky not to take full points.

“Livingston are a physical team, on counter-attack, in transition they are dangerous and at set-pieces as well. We have to be prepared for that."

Striker Adam Le Fondre, 37, scored off the bench at Ross County in midweek and is given a first start in almost five months today having recovered from injury.

“It’s taken us a long time to get Adam fully fit but he’s a great guy and fantastic striker," Montgomery continued.

"With Dylan Vente picking up an injury, Adam has been working really hard, he’s in the best condition he’s been in since I’ve been here, and I’m in really looking forward to him playing in that front line today.”

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Ross County interim boss Don Cowie says his side must be at their "very best" to see off Hearts, and particularly, Lawrence Shankland.

"We know we're playing a very good team," he tells BBC Scotland. "They've had an excellent season. We need to be at our very best today.

"We're playing against arguably the best centre forward in the league so we need to defend well. I feel like we can hurt them too.

"We're at home so we have to use that as a positive. We're unbeaten in three here, we're prepared.

"I can see evidence of the hard work we're putting in. We've liked to have got more [points] with the positions we've been in in games."

On Yan Dhanda, who has signed a pre-contract with today's opponent's, he adds: "Yan's been out for a couple of weeks. It was always in my head he was going to start this game. It's now about him showing today what he's all about."

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Watch as the Sportsound pundits discuss the need for better organisation at struggling Aberdeen.

Amy Canavan
BBC Scotland at Hampden

This topsy-turvy title race in the Scottish Championship took another surprise swerve last night and now, the door is ajar for Raith Rovers to hop into the driver's seat.

Dundee United fell asleep at the wheel last night in a dismal performance against Dunfermline.

It appears no one wants to win the second tier this season. We're here for it if it keeps the drama flooding in right up to the wire...

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers tells BBC Sportsound: "It's this part of the race that counts. I'm happy with where we're at. We're getting results, our level of performance is a little bit inconsistent but we're winning games.

"Last week, we had a really good win [against Livingston in the Scottish Cup]. I was really happy with the attacking side of the performance but not so much the defending side, we gave too much away.

"It's important that we can get our key players back after the international break.

"Game by game, just focus on ourselves, on our performance. We've got numbers of players that know how to win. That's very important. We're very excited by the challenge."

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Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes tells BBC Sportsound about Matty Kennedy recovering from injury: "He surprised us. We got the scan results early in the week and it suggested it would be beyond the international break, but he was eager, he did a lot of work on Thursday and had no reaction to training. We missed him last week, he's been key for us this season and particularly of late.

"It feels like a cup tie today. It's great for both clubs to be in this position. Both teams have punched above their weight. St Mirren did well last season and they were a reference point for us in terms of their stability. We wanted to have that similar consistency."

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Livingston manager David Martindale tells BBC Scotland requesting today's match at Hibernian be postponed "never came near my thoughts" despite the West Lothian club being struck by a sickness bug.

"I’ve been pretty bad with it, I’ve had players come in not well," he said. "We’re coming out the other end of it, but we’ve still got a couple of absentees today."

Asked about Livingston's predicament, with his side bottom of the Premiership by seven points, Martindale offered a blunt response.

"[We have to] win games of football," he replied. "It doesn’t matter talking about tactics, formations, injuries, flu – it’s all insignificant. We have to win games. I wouldn’t be standing here if I didn’t have the belief we can do it.

"This has been a painful season. I’m not going to sugar-coat it. We’ve performed well in the majority of games but come out on the wrong end of results."

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Watch as Sportsound pundit Michael Stewart offers his view on Celtic's drop in standards this season.

Jane Lewis
BBC Scotland at Fir Park

Aberdeen hope to appoint a new manager during the upcoming international break.

The Pittodrie club have been conducting interviews and that process will come to an end next week.

Peter Leven is currently in caretaker charge following Neil Warnock's shock departure last weekend.

Chairman Dave Cormack said the search to find Warnock's replacement was at "an advanced stage" last Saturday.

Willie Miller
Former Aberdeen captain on BBC Sportsound

This is such a crucial game for Aberdeen. The midweek loss to Dundee was unacceptable, I'd suggest. They lacked energy and enthusiasm, there was no leadership. It was as bad as it could get.

Off the back of their last draw at home to Hibs on Wednesday, Don Cowie makes three switches for Ross County.

Loick Ayina, Jordan White and Yan Dhanda, bound for Hearts in the summer, come in, while Josh Sims, Brandon Khela and Eamonn Brophy drop out.

There are four changes for Hearts from Monday's Scottish Cup tie with Morton. Zander Clark returns in goals, while Alex Cochrane and Nathaniel Atkinson are back in a five-man defence. Aidan Denholm slots into midfield.

Heading out are Craig Gordon, Dexter Lembikisa, Cammy Devlin and Jorge Grant.

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Adam Le Fondre, who netted in Hibernian's midweek draw with Ross County, is elevated to the starting line-up for the visit of Livingston. Regular striker Dylan Vente remains sidelined through injury and Martin Boyle is still resting following a concussion.

Chris Cadden also starts ahead of the injured Lewis Miller, with Dylan Levitt dropping to a bench which features Nathan Moriah-Welsh, who has served a suspension.

David Martindale makes three changes to the side which ran Celtic close in the cup last Sunday.

Shamal George returns in goal, with David Carson and Jason Holt bolstering Martindale's midfield options.

Out go Michael McGovern, Dan MacKay and Michael Nottingham.

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It looks like Derek McInnes has gone to three at the back, with Corrie Ndaba dropped to the bench while Matty Kennedy comes in to play wing-back.

McInnes said Kennedy would miss out. A bit of early mind games, perhaps?

Despite the 2-1 win over Aberdeen two weeks, Stephen Robinson changes four of his St Mirren charges. Charles Dunne, Ryan Flynn, and Conor McMenamin come back in while captain Mark O'Hara makes his first start of 2024.

James Bolton and Elvis Bwomono are out injured, while Lewis Jamieson and Kwon Hyeok-kyu are among the substitutes.

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Two big names back in the Celtic starting XI with Cameron Carter-Vickers returning to defence and assuming the captaincy in Callum McGregor's absence. Liam Scales is the defender who drops out, due to injury.

Kyogo Furuhashi starts in attack after scoring off the bench in last weekend's Scottish Cup win over Livingston, Adam Idah moving to the bench.

St Johnstone make four changes with defenders Matthew Smith and Andy Considine starting, Graham Carey coming in to the middle of the park and Adama Sidibeh joining the attack.

Connor Smith, Nicky Clark and Benjamin Kimpioka are on the bench and Diallang Jaiyesimi misses out.

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