Dundee welcome relegation-threatened Ross County to Dens Park for a Scottish Premiership clash on Saturday.
The visitors are in the process of hiring a new name in the dugout after Derek Adams offered his resignation two weeks ago, with the club still occupying the relegation playoff place.
Match preview
There will likely only be one spot up for grabs in the Premiership's Championship Group when the league splits in April, and Dundee currently lay claim to it.
With the top five now putting distance between themselves and the rest, the battle for sixth-place will be hard fought, and Dundee are currently in the ascendancy following a big win against St Johnstone last weekend.
That win meant the Aberdeen-Motherwell clash in midweek did not affect their league position heading into the weekend, but there are a cluster of sides in hot pursuit below them.
The win over St Johnstone was their first in four games, but Dundee still have not beaten a side outside the bottom three since early November, so that could be a slight concern following this encounter.
Three of their six wins this season have come against bottom-placed Livingston, so to win the race for sixth, they must win more clashes against their direct rivals.
In keeping with that record though, they have performed well against strugglers Ross County, keeping clean sheets in both meetings this season, while also going to Dingwall and claiming all three points thanks to Joe Shaughnessy's 97th-minute winner in December.
Like 10 of the 12 Premiership clubs, Ross County were not in league action last weekend, but after a 3-0 thrashing at home to second-tier Partick Thistle, they were not in cup action either.
That was one of the many results that led to Adams's departure, as they went on to only draw with bottom-of-the-table Livingston and lost to St Johnstone, who were a place above them.
Motherwell then briefly fell to 10th, but not for long, as a 5-0 thrashing of County saw them move away from trouble themselves and ultimately provide the final nail in Adams's coffin at the club.
After an unsurprising defeat to Rangers in midweek, County still have a game in hand and are six points above Livingston still, but the gap to 10th is now five points.
With Don Cowie in temporary charge, he will look to briefly change their fortunes after 10 games without a win - eight of which ended in defeat.
Team News
Dundee are set to be without Charlie Reilly, Ryan Howley and Diego Pineda for this clash, while Juan Portales is also absent with a hamstring issue.
Owen Beck has retaken his place in the Dundee side after rejoining on loan from Liverpool, and he provided the assist for Jordan McGhee's late winning goal at the weekend.
Serious knee injuries will keep Ross County duo Ross Callachan and Scott Allardice out of this one, while Ryan Leak and Dylan Smith are both sidelined with ankle issues.
The visitors have scored just three goals in their seven games during 2024 so far, and all have come via Simon Murray, so they will need their top scorer on form if they are to threaten here.
Dundee possible starting lineup:
Carson; McGhee, Shaughnessy, Donnelly, Beck; Sylla, Cameron, McCowan, Tiffoney; Bakayoko, Robinson
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Wickens; Ayina, Nightingale, Borthwich-Jackson; Brown, Jenks, King, Harmon, Dhanda; Murray, White
We say: Dundee 2-0 Ross County
With Ross County hopelessly out of form, a change of management still may not be enough for them to claim anything from this encounter.
A well-timed win last weekend kept Dundee in the top six after a brief spell without one, and they will be confident of keeping yet another clean sheet against County and taking three points in the process.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
