Predicted Hibs XI for Motherwell away as Easter Road side chase hat-trick of Scottish Premiership wins

Hibs head to Fir Park tonight for the second leg of a three-game week with the potential to put David Gray’s men right in the middle of a fascinating battle for the top prizes in Scottish football. So how does the Easter Road gaffer, in his second season as a head coach, approach a first meeting of the campaign with much-admired Motherwell?

Gray has spoken about the possibility of his team, already celebrating back-to-back Scottish Premiership victories after beating St Mirren away and Dundee at home on either side of the recent international break, improving on their current third-placed position in the table. But they can only do that by beating the Steelmen tonight - and then taking down reigning champions Celtic back at Easter Road on Sunday.

With that in mind, does he juggle his playing resources in order to get the best out of his team over both games? Or stick with the winning formula - he’s picked the same starting XI for the past two games - and let the cards fall as they will, in terms of energy levels and injury risks?

“It's a very interesting one because people will look at the squad and the temptation to rotate and use the squad, think a player's tired,” said Gray. “But there's no better feeling than playing regularly and especially when you're winning games of football, you just want to keep playing.

“If you speak to some of the senior players and maybe look at how many minutes they've played in recent weeks and the temptation there, you know you've got more than capable replacements ready to come in and step into the team. But you also need to manage the squad as well.

“So there's the balance of trying to do that. But at this moment in time, results are good, performance levels are good - and it's great that we've got a game quickly to try and keep this run going.”

Here’s how we think Hibs will line up this evening: