Thursday’s media conference revealed that the squad has been fighting a flu bug and there is concern about Motherwell’s ability to field eleven fit players. There was a suggestion that an appeal may have to be made to the SPFL to have the game postponed.
"We had to shut down the club yesterday. We had the entire under-20s wiped out by a virus, we had six of the first-team squad showing symptoms. At the moment our count seems to be about 15 which includes two or three of the young boys who have never been involved at first-team level.”
In any event the manager will have to make some late selection choices as he waits for fitness reports. The fallout from last Friday's bruising encounter will have kept the treatment room busy this week. Gomis will surely hold his place in midfield but there must be a doubt about Lasley. It may be that Thomas gets a rare start with McDonald dropping back to add support. And that’s if they are not laid low.
The nine points Motherwell collected from wins over Partick Thistle, Hamilton and Dundee United eased relegation fears and now they are within striking distance of fourth place. Aberdeen are in hot pursuit of Celtic and they know that any slip up would weaken their challenge.
The visitors are not without their own injury concerns and top of that list is their top scorer Rooney. In his place Simon Church has taken the lead position and with Robson back in the team he’ll not be short of service.
All of Aberdeen’s recent wins have been by a one goal margin and they may notch up another on Saturday as we suffer a 1-0 loss.
Remember the last time Aberdeen visited?