Aberdeen defender Joe Shaughnessy believes Saturday's visitors Dundee United are still a threat to the Dons' hopes of a finishing best of the rest in the Scottish Premiership.
Derek McInnes' side are battling with Motherwell for second place behind champions Celtic but the Irishman is aware that the Tannadice side are on their shoulder as the race for the European spot enters the final furlong.
The Dons are one point ahead of Stuart McCall's side and five ahead of the Terrors, albeit they have played a game more.
The 21-year-old told RedTV: "United have had a really good season, they have been up there all season and they have a lot of exciting players who are on a good run, playing well.
"So we are well aware that they are capable of finishing above us so we just need to go out and perform and do our job.
"There is always a lot at stake wherever the teams are in the table when we play each other, so this just adds a bit more spice to the game.
"I think it will be really exciting. It will be a tough game but everyone is looking forward to it."
Shaughnessy insists the Pittodrie side's last two matches have shown, if evidence was ever required, that they will not give up second place without a fight.
The Scottish League Cup winners came from behind against Kilmarnock to win 2-1 last week and fought back for a draw at Ross County in midweek after falling a goal behind
The Galway man said: "You can see in all of our performance the team spirit we have in our team.
"Everyone is working towards getting the results and we have been doing well."
Shaughnessy admits emotions are still running high after League Cup final win over Inverness at Parkhead with a sense of excitement also enveloping the Granite City club as they look forward to the semi-final of the William Hill Scottish Cup against St Johnstone next month.
He said: "It has been quite an exciting couple of weeks and to get the cup final win was really good.
"It is nice to have a bit of success after the last few years.
"Everyone is loving the excitement and wanting to be involved.
"But we are taking it one game at a time, focusing on that one game to get that job done and move on to the next one and hopefully we will keep on getting results."
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