Dundee keeper Scott Bain insists having the neighbours sitting at the bottom of the league won’t be an issue at Dens Park today.
The second city derby of the season sees Dundee United in deep trouble, cast adrift at the foot of the Premiership.
However, Bain warned against reading too much into the Tangerines’ troubles.
Indeed, he feels that United’s perilous position won’t be significant when the whistle blows this lunchtime.
“I don’t think it’s a factor,” said the Dundee number one.
“You forget about that when it’s a derby.
“The atmosphere will be different to every other game we have played this season.
“To be honest, I think United’s results don’t show how well they have played.
“They have done OK and just not got the results.
“So we can’t go into the derby thinking that just because they are bottom it is going to be an easy game.
“In the matches I have seen they seem to have done all right.
“They have been unlucky and I think it will be more about who is better on the day and hopefully that will be us.”
Bain was asked if he is surprised to see the team up the road toiling at the bottom.
He made the point that United have suffered because of the loss of star men Gary Mackay-Steven, Stuart Armstrong and Nadir Ciftci.
He said: “It is always difficult when you lose your best players.
“That happened to them with three players going who caused us a lot of problems when we played United.
“To bring in the same quality is always difficult and you can never really tell at the start of the season how it’s going to go.”
Of course, if the positions of the two clubs – Dundee are in ninth spot, a couple of places above the play-off zone – stayed the same between now and the end of the season then the derby fixture would be no more for a season at least.
Bain admitted he doesn’t want that to happen.
He said: “The derby is one of the best games of the season for us so it would a shame for them to go down.
“But there is nothing we can do.
“We need to focus on ourselves and try to push for the top six.
“If there wasn’t the Dundee derby there wouldn’t be one (a traditional city derby) in the top flight at all this season.
“We have done well in the last two I have played in so I have really enjoyed them.
“It’s a different game to every other one.
“It would be a shame to lose it but all we can do is hope we beat them.”
Bain has happy memories of the first city clash of the campaign, when Dundee battled back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Tannadice on August 11 thanks to a last-gasp goal from James McPake.
He recalled: “I would hope this is not like the last one because, for as good a game as it was to watch, I would prefer a straightforward win for Dundee than a 2-2 draw with an equaliser in the last minute.
“I think we played really well in the first half that night and to be honest we should have been out of sight.
“We had a few chances but suddenly we found ourselves 2-0 down. That came out of nowhere, really.
“However, the boys dug in and showed great character to bring it back to 2-2.”
Of course, the away fans will more fondly recall the New Year’s Day game from last year at Tannadice, when United ran riot and won 6-2.
Bain is confident that won’t be on Dundee minds 12 months and a day later.
“I think we were disappointed on the whole that the derbies didn’t go quite as well as we had hoped last season.
“You saw, though, that when we had a full-strength team we beat them 3-1 at Dens.
“It does sit in the back of your mind that we want to do better in the derbies overall this season but when we get out there on Saturday we won’t be thinking about the previous new year.”
The hosts will be without their star man today, with striker Greg Stewart suspended.
Bain conceded that the frontman’s absence will be felt.
He added: “Greg will be a massive miss for us.
“You have all seen how good his touch is.
“He has great quality in and around the box and is a top player.”