Throughout the 90 minutes, Gordon Strachan’s team struggled at set-pieces and, while that’s an area where United have been particularly strong this season, the Tannadice gaffer stressed this weekend will be about his players rising to the occasion.

“I’m not going to give away our game-plan, but, what I will say is that, when we went to Celtic last season and did reasonably well, it was because we made the most of the opportunities we had,” he said.

“Against Rangers and Celtic, you do not get too many chances and usually games against them come down to whether or not you take the few you do.”

Skipper Barry Robson is expected to recover from his dead leg and that means he is likely to be used as a stand-in for the injured Christian Kalvenes at left-back for the second game running.

“Barry did well there at Falkirk on Tuesday and, while it is not ideal because we miss him higher up the pitch, I’m seriously thinking about keeping him there,” added Craig.

“Christian is making good progress and there is a chance he will be ready for Motherwell next week, though I have to say I am not convinced he will be. If he does miss it, he will definitely be ready for the first game after the international break.”

United have confirmed they are in talks with Berwick Rangers about young midfielder Danny Swanson. A deal should be concluded in the near future and he will join up at Tannadice when the transfer window opens in January.