Motherwell vs Hibernian preview

Team news and stats for the opening weekend of the Scottish Premiership games as Motherwell entertain Hibs.

• Scottish Premiership fixtures
• Scottish Premiership games live on Sky
• SPFL clubs decide against league expansion

Motherwell vs Hibernian - Sunday, kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports

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Motherwell will assess the fitness of new signing Juhani Ojala ahead of the cinch Premiership opener against Hibernian.

The Finland defender was in quarantine ahead of his signing on Thursday.

Bevis Mugabi has trained this week following shoulder surgery but might have to wait for his first appearance of the season while Liam Grimshaw, Connor Shields and Mark O'Hara remain on the sidelines.

Hibernian hope to have Scott Allan back for the trip to Lanarkshire.

The midfielder missed the midweek European win over Santa Coloma with a slight injury.

Joe Newell returns from suspension for the league opener.

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Opta stats

• Motherwell, who won their last league meeting with Hibernian 2-0 in February last season, last won back-to-back top-flight matches against Hibs in November 2013 under Stuart McCall (four in a row).
• Hibernian are looking to pick up back-to-back away top-flight wins at Motherwell for the first time since September 2009, having won their last such visit 3-0 in December last season.
• Motherwell have failed to win their opening match in each of the last four league seasons (D1 L3) since a 2-1 win over Kilmarnock on MD1 in 2016-17.

How to watch: Watch Motherwell vs Hibernian live on Sky Sports Football from 4pm; kick-off 4.30pm. Our live match blog - on the Sky Sports website and app - will also bring you all the action as it happens and free match highlights will be published on the Sky Sports website, app and YouTube channel later that evening.

Key dates in the Scottish Premiership 2021/22 season

The Scottish Premiership will kick off on the weekend of Saturday July 31 and Sunday August 1.

The top-flight will once again take a winter break from Monday January 3 until Wednesday January 26.

After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other in that section.

The 2021/22 Scottish Premiership season with Sky Sports

• Up to 48 live matches from the Scottish Premiership, including every Old Firm encounter.
• Live coverage presented by Eilidh Barbour with analysis from Kris Boyd and Andy Walker, and more.
• Round-the-clock coverage on Sky Sports News, on skysports.com and across our Sky Sports social channels.
• Dedicated Scottish Premiership highlights show every week and free-to-watch highlights of every Scottish Premiership game on our website.
• Insight and analysis from our Scottish Football Podcast.

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