Preview

On Saturday, United make their first trip trip of the season to Inverness to face a mid-table Caledonian Thistle side. By Graeme Webster In recent seasons an encounter between the two clubs would have been crucial in defining the outcome of the European qualification places. This season however, it is all about survival with both teams too close to the relegation zone to harbour any hopes of battling it out for the top four spots. United’s most recent visit to the Caledonian Stadium came at the tail end of last season and culminated in a 3-0 defeat. Indeed, United haven’t won in Inverness since the famous 5-0 Scottish Cup win in March 2014, with four games having elapsed since that day. While we will find no crumbs of comfort studying this seasons statistics, there are some numbers that do provide reasons to remain upbeat. Specifically, the fact that there are still 20 games to go this season and thus, 60 points up for grabs. Hence, talk of the pending doom of relegation is ridiculously premature. This week saw the departure of another two players with loanee's Kuhl and Taggart both returning to their parent clubs. While this will free up some space in the squad for Mixu to utilise during the January transfer window, the critical festive period will need to be negotiated with those players currently available to him. Last Saturday United looked stubborn in defence and restricted Partick Thistle to just one shot in the entire ninety minutes. However, such is our luck at the moment, that solitary effort found its way into the net to consign us to defeat. At the other end Mckay looked isolated for much of the game and the inability to stretch the opponents and get players running beyond the ball will need to be addressed if we are to build upon the 13 league goals scored so far this season. With that said, the upcoming five games in three weeks over the festive period will offer United the chance to gather points and hopefully close the gap at the bottom going into the new year. It has been proven over recent years that there is little between the sides in the top league in Scotland and with a small change in fortune a team can go from losers to winners overnight and vice versa. A hard fought win in Inverness may be just the catalyst to kick start our season and provide all Arabs with a happy Christmas. So 'Come All Ye Faithful', let's raise the roof over the next few weeks and roar the side back to where we belong. Click here for ticket info.