Houston braced for return of ‘fabulous’ Brown

Manager Peter Houston believes his Dundee United side will tomorrow face a Celtic team boosted by the likely return of Scott Brown.

Celtic had won five straight games prior to the Europa League loss to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, cutting the deficit on SPL leaders Rangers from 12 points to four ahead of this weekend’s matches. And with Brown poised to return from an ankle injury, Houston said: “It’s been suggested in the last five games that Celtic have missed Broony but they’ve won them.

“But Brown is a loss to any team, I’d have thought. He’s a fabulous player – better player than a lot of people give him credit for. I don’t know if he will start, but I think he might get on the bench.”

Brown is set to enter the final six months of his contract at Parkhead, with an impasse over a new deal which his manager Neil Lennon hopes will be resolved soon.

However, Houston, who lost a number of key figures due to freedom of contract last summer, does not believe the uncertainty surrounding Brown has a wider impact on the squad.

“It didn’t affect our squad last year at all,” he said. “Scottie Brown is a totally committed player no matter whether he’s playing golf, tiddlywinks or whatever. He’s a committed guy and his attitude’s spot on.

United are near full strength at present, with only Danny Swanson and Scott Severin absent, and have accumulated seven points from their last four games. They know what to expect from Celtic but Houston is confident of a positive result if his side perform to their capabilities.

He added: “We’re quite happy with ourselves and we look after ourselves. I’ve always said that at Tannadice on our day we can beat anybody, but we know we’re up against a team desperate to claw back Rangers’ lead. It will be a very difficult game, but we’re looking forward to it.

“One thing about Celtic is they’ll come to Tannadice and attack – and they’re good at attacking. They’re at their best. What we’ll need to do is make sure we’re organised off the ball but also we need to express ourselves.”

Houston dismissed the notion of European fatigue for Celtic. “I don’t think it will have any impact at all,” he said. “It’s about what we do and how we perform. If we do our best that’s all you can ask for.”