Aberdeen will host Motherwell at the Pittodrie Stadium for their third match in the Scottish Premiership 2022/23 season. The Dons registered their first win of the season after a 4-1 hammering of St. Mirren at home. Motherwell, on the other hand, failed to capitalise on their win on the opening weekend and went down 1-2 against St. Johnstone.
After a 0-2 loss in the first match, the Dons made a comeback in the next one. They have now scored four goals and conceded three. Their xG rate in the last match was 3.35, and that increased the average to 1.83. Aberdeen were a bit lucky in the last match as they played against ten men for more than 70 minutes in the match.
Against St. Johnstone, Motherwell were stunned 1-2 at home. The first match also ended in a narrow 1-0 victory for the team. Their average xG rate average in these two matches was 0.97, and the manager will be looking for improvement in the upcoming fixture.
Listed below are the three things that one can look out for when these two teams go head-to-head this weekend.
Aberdeen’s threat from the centre
Aberdeen players were only able to create 15 positional attacks in their opening game against Celtic. They were more creative in the last game and were able to create 38 positional attacks. 16 shots were attempted with these positional attacks. By looking at the above viz, we can observe that the highest threat was created from attacks through the centre.
In their last match, the team managed 21 shots, with ten of them on target. Against Celtic, they had six attempts with a 33.33% accuracy rate. The Aberdeen players were very accurate with their shooting and will once again pose a great threat in the next match.
Motherwell’s creativity on the right
Motherwell have different attacking zones than their opponents. They are strong on the right side and created most of the positional attacks from that side in their previous matches. In the first match, 22 positional attacks were created, with 12 coming from the right and seven from the left. In the last match, 35 positional attacks were created, with 20 coming from the right side. Other than this, the team averaged ten shots in these two matches but had a low accuracy rate of 20%. Aberdeen’s manager is short of left-back options, and Motherwell will look to take advantage of this.
Motherwell’s high recovery rate in the middle third
One of the areas where Motherwell players have edged their opponents is in making recoveries in the middle of the park. They made 103 recoveries against Celtic and 92 in the last game. Against Celtic, 51 came in the defensive third, 43 in the middle third, and nine in the final third. In the last match, 30 recoveries were made in the defensive third, 47 in the middle, and 15 in the attacking third. By looking at the above viz, it can be observed that most of the recoveries in the middle third were made after contesting a duel. The home team averages 78.5 recoveries per game, with the highest count in the defensive third, as of now. Aberdeen might find it hard to attempt a lot of shots in the match.
Team News
Aberdeen will once again be without youngsters Jack MacKenzie and Connor Barron. Hayden Coulson could also miss the match after leaving the field just at the 11th-minute mark in the last match. Liam Scales was impressive on his Aberdeen debut and will look to repeat this performance in the coming matches.
Motherwell are still managerless, with Simo Valakari in talks to become the next manager. They might find it difficult to beat an in-form Aberdeen side, who are hungry for back-to-back wins in the league. The match could also turn out to be an even contest, with both teams having the capability to win the match.
