Dundee rivals are streets apart

McCann’s side to claim the bragging rights

There’s not too much for domestic football fans to get excited about this Sunday. That will all change next week, with matches going ahead in the Community Shield, Scottish Premiership and English Championship, but until then we have an intriguing tie from the Scottish League Cup to tide us over.

Neighbours from hell Dundee and Dundee United clash in a derby match from the group stages of the League Cup, with the BT Sport cameras setting up at Dens Park from 3.00pm, bringing us all the action live. A great way to get us in the mood for the return of British football. Click here to place your bets on the match, or build accumulators.

The Dee looking to pull rank

Dundee derbies will be thin on the ground this year, with the locals in the Premiership, while their rivals from across the street face another year down in the Championship, so both sets of players and fans will be eager to make this one count. Neil McCann’s Dundee aim to pull rank and show they are the biggest club in the city, while United have a big season ahead as they aim to improve on last time and win Scottish football’s second-tier, finally banking a return to the head table.

What better way to lay down a marker than with a famous cup win over your rivals? Just to make things that little more interesting, both teams go into the weekend with a 100% record in this competition so far, three wins each, nine points on the board, only two goals the difference in Group C. That’s in United’s favour, but the locals could change all that with a home win.

Hosts to nick an entertaining derby

This will be the first meeting of these sides since May 2016, when Dundee battled to a 2-1 win at this venue in the Premiership, goals from Gadzhalov and a late Wighton strike sealing the deal. They went through that season unbeaten against The Arabs, drawing both away matches 2-2, winning twice at home thanks to a 2-1 result on each occasion. Both teams to score on Sunday will do a job for those sitting on the fence, and that outcome trades at 4/6.