Motherwell vs Ross County Prediction: Hosts fancied to take opener

The Scottish Premiership season gets underway with a pair of games on Saturday, the second of which sees Ross County visit Motherwell (KO, 15:00).

The away side stayed up by the skin of their teeth last season, beating Raith Rovers in the play-off to retain their spot in the top tier and they will be looking to improve on that showing this term. Read on for my Motherwell vs Ross County prediction, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Football Odds

Team News

Callum Slattery, Harry Paton and Sam Nicholson are set to miss out for the hosts, along with new signings Ross Callachan and Johnny Koutroombis, who are also nursing injuries.

Tom Sparrow could return, however, after making the bench against Partick Thistle last time out.

Ross County’s Ricki Lamie is a doubt after coming off against Stirling last weekend with an Achilles issue, but Will Nightingale is back in training and could feature.

New signing Noah Chilvers could also play a part for the Staggies.

Motherwell vs Ross County Odds

Motherwell can be backed at 9/10 for the victory, while Ross County are 3/1 outsiders and the draw is available at 13/5.

Over 2.5 goals is on offer at 8/11, while both teams to score is priced at 8/13 and it is 6/4 for over 1.5 goals in the first half.

Motherwell to win @ 9/10

Ross County have taken a big risk by giving Don Cowie his first permanent job and the pressure is on for his first full campaign in charge.

The Staggies have lost both Yan Dhanda and Simon Murray, who were their two star players last season, netting 29 of the 55 goals that the side scored in all competitions.

They will be hard to replace and the away team desperately need to improve their record on the road.

County won just one of their 19 league games on their travels last season, losing 12 of those as they picked up 26 points at home and just nine away from Dingwall.

They face a Motherwell side with some exciting young players, the standout of whom is Lennon Miller.

The Well have also won six of the last nine meetings between these two teams and should be able to assert their dominance in this opener.

Over 3.5 goals @ 7/4

These two teams had a habit of putting on entertaining affairs last season, with three of their four meetings going over 3.5 goals.

There were 20 goals scored in those four encounters and this could be another high-scoring clash.

Ross County netted 10 times in four League Cup games, so could play their part in a game that may see four or more goals.

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