Dundee United are hoping to give their top-six aspirations a boost with three Premiership points against St Johnstone in Perth.
United currently sit seventh, but joint on points with Aberdeen in sixth, following their 0-0 draw with Dundee in the midweek derby match at Dens.
In their last four games, Tam Courts’ men have defeated Kilmarnock at Rugby Park and Ross County at Tannadice before losing to an injury-time goal to high-flying Celtic and sharing the points with their city-rivals on Tuesday.
But despite some respectable performances the Dingwall victory represents their only win from the last ten league games, with the Kilmarnock win coming in the Scottish Cup, and Courts admits they are approaching the stage where victories become crucial.
He told DUTV: “We are in a situation where games are coming thick and fast.
“The boys look fit, they look like they are in a good place mentally. It was really just the performance that was missing on Wednesday night but it’s another huge match at the weekend.
“It’s starting to become that point of the season where the three points become quite defining in terms of what our targets are.
“We were pleased with the clean sheet on Wednesday, pleased with the finish we made to the game and we will review where we can be better ahead of Saturday.”
United face a second Tayside derby against league strugglers in four days with the trip to McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
St Johnstone moved off of the bottom of the league with a midweek win over Livingston following their 0-0 draw with Dundee a week ago.
Callum Davidson will be without Chris Kane against Dundee United and “for the foreseeable future” through injury.
Cammy MacPherson is back in the Saints squad after Covid issues but Canada international Theo Bair is still awaiting paperwork before making his debut.
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