Jackie McNamara is looking to his players to turn up tomorrow with the best game ready for the meeting with Aberdeen at Tannadice. Third-placed United will host Derek McInnes' side, who are only a place and three points below them in the Scottish Premiership, at a sold-out Tannadice on Saturday. McNamara's men got the better of the Dons when they started the 2014-15 season by securing a 3-0 win at Pittodrie in August and now he hopes tomorrow's fixture can inspire his team. He said: "I think it's going to be a sell-out which will make for a great atmosphere on the day. It's the start of a big period for us when the games will come thick and fast which we'll look to enjoy. They had the upper hand last year, although we managed to come out on top in the one we played at the start of this campaign. But I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure the players and the fans are as well."
The Dundee United manager does not expect the opening-day win, which was sealed thanks to goals from Ryan Dow, Gary Mackay-Steven and Chris Erskine, to have any bearing on this encounter. He went on: "That was a good day for us. It was as good a start to the season as we could have hoped for. In saying that, I don't think that result on the first day will have any bearing. I don't think they will be coming here looking for revenge. I don't think that comes into it. They'll be wanting to win the match for obvious reasons. That would see them go level with us. But it would be good for us to try and win it as well to get a little gap between us and them. It is an important one for us. If we could get the three point to give us a six-point gap it would be great. It would give us a real lift."
Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds admits the game will be "massive" as the Dons bid to keep up in the race for a place in Europe next season. United will move six points ahead of fourth-placed Aberdeen if they win and Reynolds is determined to ensure that a gap does not open up. The former Motherwell centre-back said: "If we want to be successful as we were last season or even eclipse that, then every game is going to be massive. Teams will now start to break away and you pretty much need to win every game to keep up. Every three points becomes massive so when you play the teams round about you the game takes on greater significance."
Aberdeen did not start the season as well as many anticipated but, as manager McInnes has pointed out, they have more points than at the same stage last season. And Reynolds believes there is more to come from his side. He said: "We are still a work in progress. We have a lot of good players though who are putting in good performances and the last few weeks we have been creating a lot of chances. Against Hamilton we put those chances away. The manager always hammers home to us that we cannot just turn up and expect to get those goals. To get the level of performance required we have to go and outwork and out fight the opposition. Over the 90 minutes we have to be the hungrier team."