Relegation-threatened Kilmarnock are set to take on top-six contenders Motherwell at Rugby Park in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday night.

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After impressively climbing from a 10th-placed finish in 2022-23 to placing fourth in the 2023-24 Scottish Premiership season, Kilmarnock have endured a largely underwhelming first half to the 2024-25 campaign.

Killie won just one of their opening 13 matches across all competitions, alongside six losses and six draws, a run that saw them crash out of the qualifiers for both the Europa League and Conference League and fail to secure a victory in the league.

Derek McInnes finally guided the side to their first Scottish Premiership win of the season when they beat Dundee 3-2 in their seventh matchday, a result that sparked a run of three wins in four matches.

They subsequently failed to build on that victory as they went six matches without a win for the second time this season, but their fortunes have appeared to turn once again in recent weeks, having recorded three wins, one draw and two losses from their last six.

Those results see Kilmarnock sitting 10th in the table with 24 points from 22 matches, leaving them a point ahead of 11th-placed Hearts and just three points behind sixth-placed St Mirren.

As for Motherwell, they have recorded a promising first half of the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership campaign, coming into this match sitting fifth in the standings with 30 points from 21 games, after nine wins, three draws and nine defeats.

They have endured an inconsistent run of results in recent outings, drawing two, losing two and winning just one of their last five, but a 2-0 win against fourth-placed Aberdeen last time out will certainly boost their confidence heading into their upcoming games.

With Stuart Kettlewell's side now holding a four-point lead over seventh-placed Hibernian, they will be looking to build on that recent win and further strengthen their place in the top six, a position they have not achieved since 2021-22.

The visitors have struggled in their recent visits to Rugby Park though, having failed to win in any of their last four away matches against Kilmarnock, with three losses and one draw.

Kilmarnock possible starting lineup:

McCrorie; Lyons, Wright, Mayo, Ndaba; Armstrong, Watson, Donnelly, Murray; Watkins, Anderson

Motherwell possible starting lineup:

Oxborough; Balmer, Gordon, Casey; Kaleta, Zdravkovski, Halliday, Wilson; Maswanhise, Watt; Ebiye