Our current return of 34 points is just one behind what we had gathered at this stage a year ago. Then, thanks to Rangers' demise, our third place earned a trip to Athens in the Champions League. The removal of the Ibrox club coincides with the loss of a slot in the top competition and that means that those who finish second and third in this season's SPL table will enter the Europa League (at the second qualifying round). The winners of the Scottish Cup will enter the competition one round later.
So, what are our chances of finishing in the top three?
Thanks to The Guardian's stats page
The positions analysis shows that we've been more erratic this season than last. The alarming dip in form that arrived with our League Cup defeat at the end of September was reversed as winter approached and we are now back in contention.
In the winter window last time Murphy choose not to move to Blackpool and we secured the services of Ojamaa until the summer of 2014. We held on to third place for a remarkable 16 weeks.
Now we've lost Murphy and added Higginbotham. The new man was quick to point out that he wasn't coming to replace Murphy and that he had his own style. It's clear that he has a point to prove and he's desperate to make an impression to his manager at Huddersfield; he knows the way to do that is by helping Motherwell stay at the top end of the table.
It looks like we’ll face the final 16 games of the season with almost the same squad that served us so well for the first 22. Is there any logic to suggest that we’ll do better or worse in the next few months? More of the same please!