The opportunity to move level on points with Rangers on Saturday is a “huge motivation” for Dundee United, says manager Jim Goodwin as he urged his side to create “some nervous tension” at Ibrox.
United sit fourth in the Premiership, three points and one place behind Rangers.
“We want to stay as close as we can to the teams above us – a win would be fantastic,” said Goodwin. “That is a huge motivation for the players.
“We have analysed Rangers and I thought St Mirren and Hearts in particular ran them really close at Ibrox. We have to learn from that.”
Rangers may have made a slow start to the season but have won all six of their home matches in the Premiership.
You have to go back 13 years for the last time United won a league match at Ibrox.
“We go into every game trying to be positive,” said Goodwin, pointing to recent trend-breaking victories.
“The boys have ticked off a few of those kind of records; we hadn’t beaten St Johnstone for about a decade at Tannadice and I think it was about 14 or 15 years since Dundee United last won at Tynecastle.
“Records have to change at some point and there is no reason why we can’t be the team to put another one straight.”
Rangers – who trail Celtic and Aberdeen by nine points – beat United 1-0 at Tannadice in September, their only away success in five attempts this term.
With Saturday’s hosts playing catch-up, Goodwin, who welcomes back fit-again striker Louis Moult, will be hoping to capitalise on any edginess in the stands.
“We know how good the Rangers fans can be in terms of creating a good atmosphere,” he said.
“But on the flip side of that, if we can go there and get the gameplan right and try and create some nervous tension about the place, we know the fans can very quickly get on the backs of the players.
“That is what a lot of mangers would be saying to their players going into these games.
“To play for a club like Rangers you have got to be a strong character and that character has been called into question numerous times this season, so we have got to put Rangers under as much pressure as we can.
“We’ve got to take the positives from the last time we played them and I believe we have got players that can cause Rangers problems.”
