Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

There has been a furious pace in the opening quarter of an hour. Not sure even at this early stage of the season it can be maintained.

Oscar Priestman and Martin Boyle clash again, with the Motherwell man cutting across to stop an attack and winning himself a foul in the process.

A slack touch from Oscar Priestman allows Martin Boyle to venture into the penalty area but the Motherwell midfielder recovers to win the ball back.

From defending a corner, Motherwell win one of their own.

Tom Sparrow is guilty of a huge shirt tug on Nathan Lowe. A bit early for swapping jerseys.

Hibs' Jordan Obita steps up from the left centre-half role to ping a cross to the back post. Felix Passlack's shot is deflected behind for a corner.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

There is a really good atmosphere being created here, with both sets of fans playing their part.

Hopefully the 22 players on the pitch can feed off that and give us another cracking game.

Owen Elding seizes on a slack Motherwell pass and Nathan Lowe is off and running. The Hibs striker is well off target with a low shot though.

Image source, SNS

Emmanuel Longelo slips as he tries to cross but earns Motherwell the first corner of the match.

Hibs clear their lines eventually.

A nice turn and driving run from Miguel Chaiwa but his long pass is too firm and Hibs wing-back Felix Passlack can't catch it before the ball runs out for a throw-in.

Josh Mulligan loses the ball deep in his own half but no damage is done.

Motherwell do look like snap into a press, so Hibs will need to be more switched on than that.

Here we go for match number five of the new Scottish Premiership season.

The air is thick with smoke from a pyrotechnic display - an organised show, we should stress.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

These teams should be feeling an a fair degree of confidence after decent midweek wins in Europe and both will have ambitions of hitting the heights in the Premiership.

'Well ended last season on a high with a victory here and, although there has been a fair amount of change in personnel and manager, they look as if they are continuing to play an attractive style of football that is pleasing on the eye.

Hibs lost their last three home matches in the 2025-26 campaign and the fans are very demanding. They will be looking for a performance and a victory to get them off to a flying start.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

A late change for Hibs on the bench with Joe Newell injured in the warm-up, so Jacob MacIntyre takes the club captain's place.

The Hibs squad remains along familiar lines, with no major exits, although the arrivals might not whet the appetite of supporters.

Maybe the biggest bit of business was done in May when Martin Boyle signed a surprise new deal, just a couple of months after it had been announced that he was moving on.

He might not start every week, but the 33-year-old was like a man possessed in Thursday's win over Malisheva.

Jason Kerr looks like a solid addition to a defence that was guilty of conceding too many late goals last season.

Image source, SNS

There have been some significant departures at Motherwell since May, with Elijah Just, Callum Slattery, Elliot Watt and Stephen Welsh moving on, along with manager Jens Berthal Askou.

Tawanda Maswanhise remains for now but it might be hard to hold on to last season's top scorer.

The club has swapped one Scandinavian boss for another and it would seem Alfred Johansson is going to stick with the principles of his predecessor.

Big boots to fill after Askou's transformational impact over just one campaign.

Image source, SNS

Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson tells BBC Scotland: "I'm so excited. This is why I came here - being able to manage in the Premiership.

"I see a club that has built something over the past two years. Jens did brilliantly and it's exciting to be handed the task of helping a team continue down the same path. We want to play the same brand of football. Some players have left, some have come in so there will be slight differences.

"I haven't come in here with the mindset of trying to change, but I'm myself. I don't use the same words or tone as the previous manager and I probably prioritise differently in some situations.

"The biggest task for us is Hibs and trying to win the game. That is the narrow focus I always have. The target is to come here, play Motherwell football and try to take three points.

"We've been building Manny [Longelo] up - he's an important player. Mikey Booth has done brilliantly, but he's a young player who had a bad injury last year. It's a natural selection in that way."

Hibernian head coach David Gray is asked whether we can expect the kind of entertainment we got in Perth in the second game of the day. He replies; "Seven goals? I'm not sure about that. As long as we come out on the winning side, I'll be delighted.

"Both teams will be coming into the game feeling confident after qualifying in Europe - it's got all the makings of a really good game.

"We want to start on the front foot and get the crowd behind us. We're playing against the side that pipped us to fourth place last season so we want to try to put that right.

"When we're good, we can be really good. If we can get complete performances regularly this season, we're going to be a very good side.

"Motherwell are playing in a similar way and understandably so. We need to be ready for that."

That game in May meant Motherwell were unbeaten against Hibs last term, with two wins and two draws.

Hibs managed at least one victory against every other team in the league.

In a quirk of scheduling this is the same fixture that ended last season for these clubs.

Hibs needed three points that day to leapfrog Motherwell into fourth place but the visitors held on comfortably for a 1-0 win, despite a red card for Elliot Watt midway through the second half.