James McFadden will miss St Johnstone's home clash with Inverness on Saturday - but the Scotland international is expected to be fit for the festive fixtures.
McFadden suffered a hamstring strain at Kilmarnock last weekend but the injury is not serious and he should be back training by Christmas.
Manager Tommy Wright said: "He won't be risked this weekend. The important thing is to get him fit for Dundee United and there's every chance he will be fit for that.
"It's a strain rather than a pull and we're confident he will be fit for the middle of next week.
"We put David Wotherspoon in that position and he did very well, so we've got options."
St Johnstone secured their fourth consecutive victory when they won 1-0 at Rugby Park, edging into the Scottish Premiership top six in the process, and now face the four teams directly above them in the league.
And Wright is viewing that run of fixtures as an opportunity to further climb the table.
"Some people might think we're going into a tougher run now because it's the teams above us but I just think every game in this league is tough," he said.
"The fact you are playing teams above you means that, if you can get the victory, you definitely close on them. So that will be our focus.
"Inverness have done tremendously well again this season and are quite rightly up at the top of the table. They will be smarting after a poor result and that's what we have got to be guarded about."
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