David Clarkson will try his best to treat the game at Motherwell just like any other.
However, the 29-year-old striker would not be human if his thoughts did not stray to the day almost seven years ago when a game of football turned to tragedy for himself and his family.
On December 29, 2007, Clarkson was on the pitch at Fir Park playing for the Steelmen alongside his uncle, Phil O’Donnell, against Dundee United.
Just as O’Donnell was being substituted towards the end of the game, he collapsed to the turf after suffering from heart failure and despite the efforts of medics to revive him, he was later pronounced dead in hospital.
He was a Motherwell legend with the main stand at Fir Park now named after him and there is also a special memorial sculpture.
It will be the first time Clarkson has returned to the ground as an opposition player and when asked if it will be emotional going back, he said: “I really don’t know. I will just try to take it as it comes as a normal game.
“I will prepare properly, the same as every game. If I start thinking about it or getting uptight about it then it is not good for me.
“I was there for eight or nine years with good times and bad times. The thing for me is that they (Motherwell) helped me so much getting through it.
“I have said it many times but they were great with me. It is probably inevitable that I will think about Phil going back there.
“I was back in the summer doing pre-season training and there are pictures of him on the walls and things around the stadium with the stand and stuff.
“But I think about him a lot of the time so it is nothing new.
“However, going back and not being with Motherwell it probably will be different. Hopefully, we can go there and do well as a team and also as an individual.
“My family go to my games all the time so I am sure they will be at Motherwell to support me. They will be in both ends of the ground.”
Clarkson eventually left Motherwell to move to Bristol City in 2009 before going to Bristol Rovers.
He was released during the summer and was eventually snapped up by Dundee boss Paul Hartley.
Now, he returns to his former place of work and when asked if he had given any thought to what it would be like to score against Well, he said: “No, I haven’t, to be honest with you.
“I think I just have to take it as another game. If you get hyped up about it, you can end up not at your best and not play your natural game.
“It will be good to go back and I am looking forward to it. Hopefully, I can do well and if I get on the scoresheet, then great.”
He was then asked where he stood on the trend of players not celebrating if they scored against a former club and said: “I think it is up to the individual.
“It is great to score goals but do you rub it in their face, especially if you have been at a club for a number of years and enjoyed good times there?
“So, some players celebrate, some don’t. It doesn’t mean they are not happy or didn’t enjoy the goal if they don’t celebrate.
“Sometimes it is a mark of respect to a club but sometimes the moment takes over. It is one of those split-second things.”
Motherwell are currently in the middle of what their manager Stuart McCall has described as a “slump” having won only two of their opening nine Premiership games.
However, with Dundee having lost their last four games in a row, Clarkson insists they will be taking nothing for granted at Fir Park.
He said: “They are on a poor run but it is up to us to play our own game. They will probably be looking at us having had four defeats in the last four games.
“We are two sides who probably approach things in the same way. We know what they have got and what they can do.
“They are dangerous and we are not for one minute going there and thinking it is going to be easy for us.
“We are not just going to turn up and take all three points because of the run they are on at the moment.
“We need to go there, work hard and hopefully if we play well we can get the result we are looking for.”
Kevin Thomson and Iain Davidson are back in the Dundee squad but Simon Ferry, Willie Dyer, Peter MacDonald and Luka Tankulic miss out through illness and injury.
Ends