RYAN CHRISTIE is tipping newly-promoted Dundee United to achieve Premiership survival this season.
However, Celtic’s stylish Scotland international playmaker is hoping to put the Tannadice side to the sword tomorrow evening when the champions travel to Tayside in their quest for points in the bid for the unprecedented tenth successive title.
Christie expects it to be as tough against the new boys as it was in the 1-1 struggle against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park before their league fixtures against St Mirren and Aberdeen were cancelled following the backlash of Boli Boligoli’s secret trip to Spain.
Now the midfielder has set his sights on tomorrow’s 5.30pm kick-off and, speaking to this week’s Celtic view, admitted: “I’ve not played against Dundee United since I was at Inverness Caley Thistle.
“It’s nice to see them back, I’ve always enjoyed playing at Tannadise, it’s quite a cool wee stadium.
“Dundee United have got a good side and they’ll be coming up with a bit of a point to prove. I don’t think they’ll go straight back down, in a relegation battle or anything like that.
“We’ll be ready for this game. Domestically, we’re looking forward to getting back to winning ways as soon as we can.”
Reflecting on the two dropped points in Ayrshire, Christe added: “The way that Kilmarnock play, similar to most of the other teams that come up against us, it’s very defensive, even when they’re at home.
“We don’t want to make too many excuses, though, because we’re used to that now. Everybody tries to play when they play against us and I suppose we need to take that as a complement.
“But, still, it can be frustrating to play against teams who are so hard to break down, especially on a plastic pitch on a hot summer’s day, it’s not great for fast-flowing football. Frustrated was the overall feeling afterwards, but now we’re just desperate to bounce back straight away.
“We don’t want to let it get to us too much, we just want to get back to winning ways in the league as soon as we can and we’ve got the chance to do that against Dundee United this weekend.”
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