Merouane Zemmama is unbeaten at Tannadice against Dundee United and he's keen to outline the motivating factors helping Hibs

MEROUANE ZEMMAMA believes Hibs can not only widen the gap between themselves and Dundee United with victory at Tannadice tomorrow but deal a psychological blow to the Tayside outfit's hopes of finishing the season in third place.

The managerless Tangerines narrowed the Easter Road club's advantage to two points thanks to David Goodwillie's goal against Hamilton at New Douglas Park 48 hours ago.

Another win for the team under the temporary charge of Peter Houston, following Craig Levein's appointment as the Scotland manager, would see United and Hibs swap places in the SPL.

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But the only scenario Moroccan playmaker Zemmama is contemplating is a triumph which would not only restore Hibs' five-point lead but leave the Edinburgh side with a game in hand. And that, he insisted, would seriously dent United's hopes of ending the season ahead of Hibs.

The midfield star said: "Tomorrow is a very important match. United will be motivated because they won the other night and will be looking for another victory to go above us in the table.

"A draw wouldn't be a bad result in the circumstances, but we will be going there looking for all three points which would put us five ahead of them and the chance to make it eight with the game we'd still have to play. That situation would be a big blow for them and a good one for us."

Zemmama, who opened the scoring in the 1-1 draw between the sides in the Capital earlier in the season, acknowledged a trip to Tannadice presented a difficult 90 minutes for any club but revealed he has his own personal reason to approach the journey with optimism.

He said: "It's a tough place to go but luckily enough for me I have never lost at Tannadice. We won 3-0 the first time I went there and the other three games I've played in at this ground all ended in draws.

"I feel we can win tomorrow. I think we were a bit unlucky not to have won when they were at Easter Road a few months ago. We had the chances to score more than one in the first half and had the misfortune to see them equalise with a deflected shot.

"Zouma," however, agreed he and his team-mates will need to produce a much better display than that which saw off Ayrshire Junior side Irvine Meadow in last weekend's historic Active Nation Scottish Cup tie at Easter Road.

Although Hibs eventually ran out 3-0 winners, manager John Hughes has made it clear in the intervening period he is looking for much better from his players – and Zemmama has no quibble with that.

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In fact, the 25-year-old was perfectly candid. "Our performance was not good enough," he said "We need to be much better tomorrow. We did look to play well against Irvine and score a lot of goals but it didn't happen that way. The most important thing is that we won and are into the fifth round with another favourable draw. But we know we can play better, we have shown already this season we are capable of so much more."

The victory over Irvine earned Hibs a home match against either near neighbours Edinburgh City or Montrose with Hughes' players likely to discover their opponents should the rearranged fourth-round tie go ahead at Meadowbank on Monday night as planned.

But, Zemmama asserted, any thoughts of the Scottish Cup have to be put to one side until the first weekend of next month with important SPL matches against Hamilton, Celtic and St Mirren scheduled to follow tomorrow's game.

He said: "The draw for the Cup has been good to us again but we have to forget that match until it comes around. Until then, we have to focus on each league game as it arises, meaning all our attention must be on beating United tomorrow."

Similarly, Zemmama insisted he and his team-mates should banish any notion that United may be vulnerable as they continue to search for Levein's replacement, the Tannadice outfit having emerged from a rocky spell which saw them not only fail to win in five matches but suffer two hammerings from Rangers, most notably the 7-1 savaging at Ibrox.

Speaking from personal experience having watched Tony Mowbray leave Hibs for West Bromwich Albion after just his seventh match in a green-and-white shirt, Zemmama said: "It shouldn't make a difference.

"As a professional player you have to be prepared to play under any manager. You need to understand what he wants you to do on the pitch, the tactics he wants to play."

Zemmama accepted that a period of flux such as United are enduring can sow the seed of doubt in players' minds as they anxiously await the unveiling of their new manager, but, again, he insisted those out on the pitch should be capable of putting such worries aside. He said: "It happens in football, if a manager leaves and a new one comes then you have to keep working hard and try to persuade whoever your new manager might be to keep picking you.

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"New managers often want to change things but as a professional you have to keep working hard, doing your best for your club, your team-mates and yourself.

"Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus are good guys, they brought both me and Benji to the club and gave us our chance here.

"Of course. it was a bit of a surprise when he moved on so soon after me arriving at Easter Road but the most important thing for me was to keep working hard for the team."

To underline his point, Zemmama highlighted how only he and Benji remain from the Hibs side which started Mowbray's last match in charge, a 1-0 defeat by St Mirren at Love Street, although Chris Hogg, now club captain, was on the bench that day at the end of September 2006.

He said: "It just shows how things change, not just in football but life. Tony Mowbray left but life goes on, the same happened with John Collins and then Mixu Paatelainen.

"You accept that's the way of things and as a professional you just concentrate on doing your job which is playing football."