Dundee United’s Paul Dixon admits Championship title rivals Hibs made a big statement of intent with two recent signings.
Now, the full-back is looking for his side to deliver a strong message of their own when they travel to face Neil Lennon’s men in the capital in Friday’s top-of-the-table clash.
The Easter Road manager has added former Scotland international Kris Commons on loan from Celtic and ex-Motherwell winger Chris Humphrey following his release by Preston.
Dixon believes the deals for the duo have added further quality to what was already a strong Hibs squad.
However, the 30-year-old insists the Tangerines possess the players who can more than match the Edinburgh side.
Dixon said: “Signing Kris Commons and Chris Humphrey is a big statement from Hibs.
“They are both top players so that shows their intention.
“Hibs already had guys like John McGinn, Fraser Fyvie, Jason Cummings and Grant Holt – all big players who create a lot of headlines.
“So they were strong in the first place, but bringing someone like Commons in is a big move.
“I’ve played against him lots of times. He can score goals from nothing and there can’t be many players with Champions League experience who have played in the Championship.
“But we believe we’ve got a good squad as well, the manager is looking to maybe add to it.
“So it’s all set up for a good game on Friday night and hopefully we are the ones who will come out of it on top.
“I think we showed in the home game against Hibs how much we’ve improved.
“The new players have settled in now and everyone knows what the manager is looking for.
“In the game at Easter Road they were better than us in the first half before we grew into the game.
“But that wasn’t the case in the second game. Hopefully we can show the progress has continued.”
United, of course, will also be looking to make a big statement after their 14-game unbeaten run game to an abrupt end of Saturday with defeat at Dumbarton.
Dixon insists the players are now determined to embark on another long series of good results starting at Easter Road.
He said: “It was disappointing down at Dumbarton, it wasn’t a great game in any sense and it was a freak goal we lost.
“Sometimes you just get matches like that so we have to pick ourselves up and focus on Hibs.
“The unbeaten run came to an end but it usually happens like that, it’s the unexpected ones which come and get you.
“The challenge now is to go on another unbeaten run and that’s what we’re aiming to do on Friday night.
“It will be difficult against Hibs because they’re a good side but we will go there with confidence.
“It’s the ideal game for us, we’re the top two in the league at the moment and there’s loads of focus on it.
“It won’t be an easy game for us but I’d imagine they’ll be thinking it won’t be easy for them either.
“They knocked us off the top of the league but that’s what this division is like, I’d imagine it might be like that right to the end of the season.”
Dixon added: “Most people are looking at it thinking it could go right down to the wire.
“But we’re not really focused too much on the table, this league is about doing your job week by week and then seeing where you end up.
“All you can do is try to stay focused on your job and then see where it takes you at the end of the season.
“Our aim is to win the league, that’s what’s driving us on.
“The performances have dipped a few times but we’ve ground out wins regardless.
“We couldn’t do that at Dumbarton but we know we’re capable of getting back to the standards we’d set.”
