Christmas cancelled for Motherwell as Stuart Kettlewell prepares for Rangers clash

Christmas is cancelled for Motherwell this year as they turn their focus to a hectic festive fixture list starting with the visit of Rangers on Sunday.

Stuart Kettlewell is preparing his team for the challenge of taking on Philippe Clement’s in form side on Christmas Eve before they travel to Aberdeen three days later.

That means there will be no time off for the players who will be in every day over the festive period as they look to put an end to a 14-game winless run that leaves them second bottom of the table.

After the game against Aberdeen on December 27, they will host Livingston on December 30 and Hibernian on January 2 before the league stops for the winter break.

So it will be all systems go for the Fir Park club until the break arrives as they attempt to get themselves up the table and in a healthier position for the second half of the season.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Kettlewell said: “This time of year for us inevitably just becomes a string of playing games and preparing for the games, it is that simple for us.

“Whether we play on Christmas Eve, we can’t control that. It’s something that was thrown out there pretty late on for us to be honest. We never had much of a conversation that that’s what it was going to be.

“But very quickly our minds switched to that’s what it was and that’s what we’re going to do. I know Rangers will be the same, they’ve had a really hectic schedule so that’s how it is.

“Not trying to gain any brownie points, but we’ll be in on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and another game on the 27th and that’s what it is for us now, just get the head down and concentrate on what’s in front of us.

“There’s not going to be that time to celebrate Christmas and everything that comes along with that, very much the focus for us is the game against Rangers on Sunday which is going to a huge challenge for us. They are a massive football club, currently functioning really well in terms of winning games and they’ve had a big reaction from the new manager coming in.

“So we have all those things to face and for us to start to think what Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is going to look like, it’s very much focused on football and trying to get ourselves into a position where we can pick up points.”

The Steelmen haven’t won a game since the victory over Hearts on September 3 as they recorded six draws and eight defeats from their last 14 games.

They are five points ahead of LIvingston at the bottom but also only five points off Dundee in seventh and eight off the top six so they know their form over these next four games before the break could make all the difference to their season ahead.