DUNDEE have made giant strides since the last time their city rivals made the shortest walk in world football.

United boss Jackie McNamara once memorably compared the 200m stroll from Tannadice Park to Dens Park as "walking along the street for a square go" and rarely has a fairer fight been promised than this lunchtime.

Unlike the season before last, when they replaced Rangers in the top division, an ill-prepared and under-matched Dundee side under, first, Barry Smith then John Brown lost three and drew one of the four competitive derby meetings between the teams. This time, however, the Dens Park side go into the match unbeaten and with a firm grip on the coat tails of their city rivals near the top of the Premiership table.

Moreover, as the only big city rivalry remaining in the top flight, the fixture has prime billing, with a second helping set to be served up on Wednesday at Tannadice in the Scottish Communities League Cup.

John Rankin, the veteran Dundee United midfielder, is one man who felt those 2012-13 encounters represented something of a phoney war. "This is going to be a proper derby, so to speak," said Rankin. "The last time, I really did feel for them. Let's be honest, they were put into the Premier League at the last minute. Everyone's budget was different from what theirs was and so were their resources.

"But this time they've had time to prepare," he added. "Their manager [Paul Hartley] has taken them into the Premier League and he's strengthened. He's brought in a lot of experienced players, players who have probably experienced derbies elsewhere. They will definitely be a different team to tackle this time round."

You have to go back all the way to season 2002-03 for the last time Dundee finished higher in the Scottish footballing ladder than their city rivals. But hope springs eternal amongst one of the traditional supporter bases in Scottish football. "It would be naïve to say they won't be [a rival for a European place]," said Rankin.

"Everybody in this league is in a position to go and challenge for second, third place, European spots and top-six places. It's such an open league."

While Rankin feels the Dundee version is friendlier than its derby counterparts in Glasgow and Edinburgh, such close proximity to the next meeting between these two closest of city rivals is an added complication. Although it could be argued that such a quirk of the fixture calendar lessens the import of each individual fixture, it could equally be the case that events in the first match frequently spill over into the second. "There's always stuff carried over from games, let's be honest," said Rankin, a man who experienced two back-to-back Highland derbies while a Ross County player circa 2003. "It doesn't matter what game or what team you're playing against, there'll be something there. Players have got a wee black book with names in it!

"We've waited 18 months for one and now we've got two in the space of three or four days," he added. "But it's not about would you rather win the cup game or the league game? You have got to win both.

"The 19/20-year-old John Rankin would probably be buzzing about from minute one to minute 75 then die a death in the last 15 minutes," he added. "But I've learned that you need to be more controlled than that, it will slow down. The adrenaline is going constantly, the buzz, the noise of the supporters, and it's going to be a hostile atmosphere for us on Sunday. But I prefer going away from home in a derby because I like that hostile feeling, I like being in amongst it."

While this is his first competitive Dundee derby, Hartley is another man who has written the book when it comes to the local struggles of Scottish football. The man who studied for his SFA A licence alongside Rankin in Largs, and has spent the week fending off the advances of Cardiff City, not only scored a hat-trick for Hearts in a 4-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win against Hibs back in April 2006, but he recalls two quick-fire Old Firm wins at Celtic Park in the space of 11 days in April 2008 as Gordon Strachan's Celtic side took an unlikely SPL title.

"Edinburgh derbies were always good to me," said Hartley. "I suppose the semi-final is the one I'm probably remembered for because I scored a hat-trick in it. I also remember the Old Firm games when we had them back to back in the space of 10 or 11 days and had to win them. The pressure was really on us.

"Our fans are sort of starting to believe a wee bit," the Dundee boss added. "They finally think we have a good team on the park and things are better off the park because of the new owners. This will be an open game. United have had loads of plaudits over the years for the way they have played but people are now seeing how we want to play. The only way we can is to play attacking football."

Hartley's Dundee is a team with a hinterland, a cast of colourful and occasionally wayward characters given extra opportunities to thrive. In all, 15 players were brought in this summer, with 13 going in the opposite direction. Few have more eye-catching back stories than Philip Roberts, the one-time Arsenal trainee and Inverness Caley Thistle striker whose time at Falkirk came to a peremptory end after he kicked a water bottle at his own bench after being dismissed.

"Maybe I did develop a reputation, but I think that what I did in games overrode that reputation," said Roberts. "It did all end badly at Falkirk, but I think that over the season I was one of the top performers in that squad. I'm not tooting my own horn, but I think I gave a lot to Falkirk and I want to give as much as I can to Dundee.

"The gaffer here knew I was hungry and he thought that he could maybe tame the attitude I'd been labelled with and get the best out of me," the pacy attacker added. "I think we're seeing that now. People think that I'm annoyed with other players on the park and that I've got an attitude problem, but it's because I'm hard on myself. I was beating myself up, but in the Premiership there's no time for that."

Thankfully, in terms of the short walk between the grounds, there is still time to observe one of the more idiosyncratic traditions of the Scottish game. "It's weird," admits Gary Mackay-Steven. "I've never experienced anything else like it in football. You have your pre-match at Tannadice and then walk up in your tracksuits as a team - you feel the nerves and adrenaline pumping. There are a few shouts, a wee bit of abuse, but you try to take no notice of it. It does feel like you're going into battle but you have to focus on the game and hope it doesn't get too heated."

"It's something unique," agreed United coach Simon Donnelly. "You certainly couldn't do it for an Old Firm game, put it that way."