United earned lots of praise for their exciting brand of football in the first half of the season and their performance against us in November was one of the best offered by a visiting side at Fir Park in years. However, their purple patch ended on Boxing Day with a loss to St Mirren as a seven game stretch without a win began. They defeated Kilmarnock at the weekend to record their first league win in three months and we enjoy a nine point lead with a game in hand.
The inclusion of 19 year old left back Roberston in the Scotland squad will have come as a boost to our hosts but there may be some doubt over the fitness of some of the other young players. Gauld, Soutar and Armstrong are recovering from knocks though manager McNamara is hopeful they'll be available.
Our defeat at the last meeting with United coincided with the loss of Ramsden, Hutchinson and Hammell from our back four. On this occasion we are better placed though the right back position remains a problem. Stuart McCall acknowledged that the treatment room was a busy place at the start of the week with Lasley's knee ligament causing concern. With a game in Perth next Tuesday and a frantic schedule looming before the split it may be that we see one or more of our young players blooded before the BT Sport cameras.
On a positive note we've been averaging over two goals a game of late so there may be an expectation of a high scoring encounter. There will be few complaints from the travelling fans if we see a repeat of the 2-2 scoreline that was the result when we last were at Tannadice in September.
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