Ange Postecoglou reckons the cup clash at Tannadice will be a cracker - because BOTH teams are going for glory.
The Celtic boss believes Dundee United will be more prepared to have a go at his side than most have this season because of the one-off nature of the contest.
The Australian has watched teams sit in and try to hit the Hoops on the break for most of a league campaign where every point is a prisoner but is predicting a far more open contest tonight with a place in the Scottish Cup semi finals up for grabs.
Postecoglou said: "When you get to this time of the year you see how much a point means to teams and that can be fairly constricting, whereas in cup competitions you kind of say 'well let's just go for it' and there is an opportunity there for teams to advance.
"It doesn't mean that teams are all of a sudden just going to open up, but I just think that whenever the game is 0-0, teams will have a little bit more of a go.
"I think back to the semi-final of the League Cup and the way Hibs tackled Rangers in the first half and they probably hadn't played with that freedom all year.
"Being so close to a cup final you can see that teams like that can do it, so we have to be ready for that and make sure we match whatever tempo and intensity there is in the game."
Postecoglou has plenty of options for the trip to Tayside and the manager is delighted that his players appear to be peaking at the business end of the season.
He added: "We are in a good place in terms of the health of the squad and training is really competitive.
"It's the most competitive it's been all season. From the physical perspective and the numbers we are getting back, the players are in a really good space in the way we are working through games.
"Our performances have been fairly stable. They haven't all been exhilarating, but we haven't had too much fluctuation.
"All those kind of indicators show me that we are in a good space to finish the season strong. That's just me sitting here right now and the evidence we will see as we go along.
"Anecdotally and observationally from me without looking at the data, which I do every day anyway, my sense is that our training is at the best level it has been all year, so that is the kind of stuff I look at and you hope that transfers into the game."
