In a league as tight as the SPL it does not take many results to drastically change your position. A loss here, along with denting our confidence, could see the teams above us pull away and those behind us catch up. If you follow football through the media it would seem bizarre that Falkirk could be only three points behind us (if they win) given the respective starts the teams have made but that's the reality of the situation.
Falkirk at Fir Park 2008/9
The positive side is that a win will really open a decent size gap between us and the bottom clubs. We'll be nine clear of Falkirk and with St Johnstone travelling to Hamilton, we will make ground on at least one of them as well. The defeat from Hibs reminded everyone we have a lot of progress still to make and securing our SPL place is the first step.
Falkirk, while not winning yet, have at least managed to tighten their defence. Three consecutive clean sheets in the league is impressive and given our scoring problems we will have to work very hard to break them down. Arfield is one of a few doubts and it would do our cause no harm if he misses out once more.
Our injury situation isn't too bad with Smith and Hutchinson ruled out while Slane is also unlikely to return just yet. We do have room for manoeuvre in the squad though with Jutkiewicz a prime candidate to drop out of the attack and Craigan possibly returning to the centre of defence.
This may not be a pretty game to watch at times but if we can score early we have reason to be confident of securing victory - 2-1 Motherwell.
Remember the last time Falkirk were at Fir Park?