Jim Goodwin hoping Dundee United can upset Celtic’s title party

Jim Goodwin is hoping Dundee United can upset Celtic’s title party and steal a march on at least one of their rivals in the battle for third place on Saturday.

The Hoops know a point at Tannadice will be enough to ensure they finish top of the Premiership for the fourth year running.

But fourth-placed United have incentive of their own as – with third-placed Hibernian visiting fifth-placed Aberdeen – there is an opportunity to strengthen their bid for a European spot.

“I think it’s only natural that in the build-up to this game, given what’s at stake for Celtic, being able to wrap up the league title, you would imagine that all of the media attention will be on them,” said manager Goodwin. “It’s our job as the opposition to try and make life as difficult as possible.

“If that means trying to delay those celebrations for the Celtic fans by another week, then we would be absolutely delighted with that. Our last game against Celtic at Tannadice was a really good, positive performance from us where we were able to take a really valuable point.

“We’ve been on a very good run and we want to try and keep that going. Something’s going to give at Pittodrie, there’s going to be points dropped by one of the two teams and we’ve got to try and capitalise on it.

“If we could finish in fifth, I think that would be a fantastic achievement but we’re not satisfied with that. We want to try and get third and we’re still very much in the fight for that.”