Stuart Armstrong is delighted that Dundee United have ditched their usual slow start to the season to race out of the traps straight to the top of the Premiership.
The Tangerines secured their place at the summit of the league table courtesy of Sunday’s thumping 4-1 derby victory over Dundee at Dens.
Before the game, much of the talk had been about the Dark Blues’ unbeaten start to the campaign but that came to a shuddering halt as United ran riot.
Armstrong says the United players were just fully focused on their own performance and not on Dundee, who they will face once again at Tannadice in the League Cup on Wednesday night.
He said: “I don’t think we took too much notice of their form. We heard a lot about them and that they were playing in a nice way for the fans and an exciting brand of football.
“They obviously had a good performance against Celtic but we just had to look after ourselves, how we could create chances and stop the opposition. We had to focus on our game.
“I think it’s an excellent start for us this season. Sometimes we’ve been slow starters so to be top of the table after seven games is brilliant.
“It will be good to go into the cup tie on Wednesday and give us a bit of a break from the league.”
Armstrong added: “I think Dundee will be disappointed and will be looking to make amends for that.
“They’ll probably be a bit disheartened also because they had a good run of games and were doing well. So maybe their confidence has taken a bit of a knock but they’ll be looking to get back on track.”
Sunday’s derby was Armstrong’s first appearance for United since August 16, the player missing out with an ankle injury.
The midfielder was pleasantly surprised at how well he adjusted to the pace of the derby after his lay-off and he believes United could have won by an even bigger margin.
He said: “I was a bit tired during the game but my ankle was feeling good. At the end, it was really good, and I’m just pleased to be back playing and back among the boys.
“The game wasn’t as frantic as I thought it would be. I thought it was more of an even game in the first half so it was good to get a goal and go in 1-0 up at half-time.
“In the second half, they needed to chase the game so it opened up a bit and we took advantage of that.
“When I was on the pitch in the second half, the momentum was with us. And I thought with each opportunity when we went forward we had the chance of scoring.
“Perhaps we could have got more goals to our name.”