Hamilton are boosted by the return of striker Mickael Antoine-Curier as they try to close the gap on seventh placed Aberdeen to four points with a win against the Dons at New Douglas Park. Don’t forget, you can keep up-to-date with the game live thanks to STV Sport’s live Saturday updates.

Richard Hastings is also back in training, while James Wesolowski is expected to be available for the visit of Mark McGhee’s side.

For the visitors, Sone Aluko and Jim Paterson will be fit after recovering from respective Achilles and hip injuries. Davide Grassi serves a one-match ban, while Peter Pawlett (knee) and Andrew Considine (hip) are long-term absentees.

Aberdeen haven’t won in the SPL since a 3-0 win at Hearts on January 27, losing four league games from six and exiting the Scottish Cup at the hands of First Division side Raith Rovers.

Visiting boss McGhee is under no illusions going into the match against a Hamilton side battling for their survival and knows that a win is crucial to his own team’s fight to avoid being sucked into relegation contention.

"Losing the next two or three games, the result of that is we may find ourselves closer to a relegation fight,” said McGhee. "It's still not the way I'm thinking. The phrase, 'Relegation fight' hasn't entered my head.

"I still feel there is an opportunity over the next couple of games for us to keep ourselves in the race for the top six, albeit we know eventually we have to start winning games.

"I think, for the sake of our season, the win is the thing. However, I still think that playing well is probably the best route to a win. You can't plan to play badly and win but I think you can plan to play well and win. If we win on Saturday, things will look a little bit different."

The Accies are just two points above bottom club Falkirk but, with the Bairns hosting Celtic on Sunday, the game with Aberdeen presents a golden opportunity to pull away from Steven Pressley’s side.

Home boss Billy Reid however is wary of which Dons side will turn up, knowing they have the strength in depth to cause his team plenty trouble but having performed so poorly in recent weeks.

"I don't know what to expect to be honest with you," said Reid. "They have had a strange run of results, drawing with Celtic 4-4 and then the run they have been on.

"I watched them at Falkirk a couple of weeks ago and Falkirk beat them pretty comprehensively. They are a huge club in the SPL, and they carry a great support, so they will come here looking for the points."

"It's a club we have done pretty well against since we have been back in the SPL. We have beaten them three times and they have beaten us a couple of times. There hasn't been a lot between us.

"We just hope we play to our potential and I feel as though we can do that. But we must take our chances. Goals change games and we haven't scored enough goals recently."

Hamilton team (from): Cerny, Elebert, McClenahan, M Paixao, Canning, Easton, McLaughlin, Wesolowski, F Paixao, Mensing, McArthur, Neil, Imrie, Murdoch, van Zanten, Thomas, Evans, Crawford, Antoine-Curier, Hastings.

Aberdeen team (from): Langfield, Foster, Diamond, Mulgrew, Paterson, McDonald, Kerr, Aluko, Fyvie, MacLean, Mackie, Paton, Ifil, Duff, Nelson, Young, Marshall, Megginson.