St Johnstone want to make their stay at fifth place in the table a brief one.
After a long run unchallenged spell in the top four for Saints, Ross County have now gone above them.
And Steven MacLean and his Perth team-mates are determined to reclaim the position by beating Aberdeen at McDiarmid Park this afternoon.
“We’ve got a couple of games in hand but we need results,” said MacLean.
“Everybody has said that we’ve been solid for the top six but we need to go and prove it.
“There are teams just behind us who will be fancying their chances of catching us after seeing our recent form.
“This has been a difficult period and we don’t want to slide further down. We’ve got the players in the dressing room to come out fighting, and that’s what we’ll do.
“Confidence is a big thing in football. It’s easy to play when you’re doing well. It’s when things aren’t going well that you find out about your squad and who has a bit about them.
“We’ve got boys who can make sure we come out the other side.”
Coming out the other side against an Aberdeen side that has just beaten Celtic to go just three points off the champions is no easy task, of course.
MacLean said: “Aberdeen withstood the pressure Celtic put on them early in the game, and then could have won by even more by the end.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough game for us.
“Knowing Del (Derek McInnes), I’m sure the 5-1 will be getting mentioned. There’s their motivation straightaway.
“Obviously, they’re trying to win the league as well. That’s the gap down to just three points.
“I don’t think it’s a case of it being a good time to play them or a bad time. All we know is they’ll be bang up for it and so will we.”
McInnes is unsurprisingly talking down the Dons’ title hopes, and MacLean agrees with him.
“Del has a point,” he said. “I certainly think Celtic will win the league.
“But Aberdeen will push them closer than before.
“If they beat us on Saturday they would go level on points, which would put more pressure on Celtic with them not playing a league game.”
It is certainly a different Aberdeen team to the one MacLean played in.
“We were struggling,” he recalled.
“Mark McGhee was the manager and the punters weren’t having him to say the least. There were a few incidents and it wasn’t great.
“The supporters could turn on the team back then.
“They’ve still got that in them but the fans are right behind Del just now and they’ll come down the road in big numbers.
“You could always see the potential of the club, and the possibility of challenging the Old Firm.
“Del and Doc (Tony Docherty) have taken things on and they’re doing really well. They deserve it.”
With Michael O’Halloran gone, Murray Davidson suspended, and Dave Mackay and Brian Easton injured, Saints will be a much-changed side from the one that lost the League Cup semi-final to Hibs seven days ago.
“We need a result from somewhere,” MacLean said.
“You can say what you want, but we need to be better.
“Last Saturday was very disappointing. I don’t think we did ourselves justice on the day.
“Whether it’s a top performance or a not so good one, we just need a win.
“We’ll take a scruffy 1-0.
“We’ll keep working hard and look to do the simple things well and hopefully we’ll turn it round.”
MacLean is hoping that Danny Swanson can have an immediate impact on the team in his second stint with Saints.
“It’s a bit different to this time last year,” MacLean said. “We know him and he knows us. We’re all hoping he’ll show the same form as he did the last time he was with us.
“Hopefully he’ll hit the ground running and give us a lift, create some chances and score as well. He’s certainly got great ability.”