Jim Goodwin tells his in-form Dundee United side not to underestimate Kilmarnock

Jim Goodwin has warned in-form Dundee United not to underestimate a Kilmarnock side he expects to arrive at Tannadice with all guns blazing.

The struggling Rugby Park outfit – who finished fourth last term – are currently 10th in the Premiership and have taken just one point from their last five games.

Derek McInnes’ team visit United this weekend on the back of a 6-0 thrashing away to Rangers on Wednesday, but Goodwin is reading little into their recent form.

“It’s always a difficult game against Kilmarnock,” said the United boss. “I know they’re going through a sticky patch at the moment and results haven’t been great.

“They find themselves at the wrong end of the table, but it’s still very tight when you consider points from the top six to the teams down near the bottom.

“A couple of wins and all of a sudden these teams can find themselves back up in the mix.

“The message has been firmly put to the players that we don’t underestimate Kilmarnock.

“Their form will have to turn at some point and we need to make sure that it’s not this weekend against us.”

Asked about the impact of Killie’s midweek defeat at Rangers, Goodwin said: “Nobody wants to be on the end of a 6-0 drubbing. Confidence-wise it can have an impact on that but at the same time knowing Derek McInnes like I do, a good experienced manager, he’ll be looking for a reaction from his players and I’m pretty sure that will be the message prior to the game.

“That’s what we’re expecting. We’re planning for Kilmarnock to come flying out of the traps.”

United, by contrast, are motoring along nicely in fourth place. However, Goodwin is refusing to get carried away by their current status as he recalls how quickly things unravelled for him when he was in a similar position while in charge of Aberdeen towards the end of 2022 before being sacked at the end of January 2023.

“I’m not really focusing on the league table right now, genuinely,” he said.

“I’m not, it’s far too early. I’ve been here before as a manager. In my previous club, I was sitting third in the table in December and then came back after the World Cup break and things went pear-shaped.

“You can’t underestimate the opposition in this league. You cannot take things for granted.

“I’ve got good experienced players within the group that understand that these things can happen if you do get complacent.

“At the moment we’re going well, things are ticking along nicely. But we’re coming into this busy schedule now over the festive period where once that is done then I think you’ll have a better reflection of what the league looks like when we go into February.”