St Johnstone midfielder Ali Crawford insists pressure is on Dundee

St Johnstone midfielder Ali Crawford insists the pressure is on Dundee in Saturday’s relegation battle at the Kilmac Stadium on Saturday.

With five post-split fixtures remaining, Saints are five points clear of the cinch Premiership’s bottom side and six points behind St Mirren and Aberdeen.

Crawford believes the Perth men will be able to shrug off the 7-0 defeat by Celtic in their last outing – “the three games before it we were unbeaten, Celtic were on a very good day” – and are capable of climbing away from the play-off spot, with Dundee under pressure to give themselves a lifeline in the Tayside derby.

The former Hamilton playmaker said: “I would rather be in our position than theirs.

“Obviously there is five points between us and if we win on Saturday it makes the gap greater so I would definitely say the pressure is on them and being at home, their fans will expect them to get a result so it is up to us to go there and put a spanner in the works.”

Crawford believes that his time at Accies has prepared him well for a relegation battle.

He said: “It is not the first time in my career I have been in this position.

“Obviously I was at Hamilton where it felt like every year we were fighting a relegation battle.

“So I am quite used to it and I quite enjoy it actually. The pressure doesn’t seem to bother me and hopefully the rest of my team-mates are the same.

“If you take the Celtic game (7-0 defeat) out, we have been performing well recently and we don’t go into Saturday’s game in bad form or with no confidence. We are ready and raring to go.

“The belief in the camp is very strong that we can stay up automatically.”