James McPake acknowledged Aberdeen’s improvement over the course of the season but is looking for a Dundee double over the Dons on Boxing Day.

Dundee’s 2-1 home win over the Pittodrie side on October 16 was their first cinch Premiership victory of the season but it was the visitors’ fifth loss in a row and extended their winless run to 10 games, heaping pressure on Stephen Glass who was strongly backed in the aftermath by chairman Dave Cormack.

The Granite City outfit rallied thereafter and their 1-0 loss to Hibernian in midweek was their first defeat in four matches, while second-bottom Dundee have lost their last four games including consecutive 1-0 defeats to Hibs and Hearts.

McPake hopes to get back on track on Sunday and he told DEETV: “As a manager I am happy that he (Glass) has turned it around.

“As a fellow manager, I would class him as young manager as well albeit he is a little bit older than me.

“It is a tough job and I am glad that he has turned it around.

“And I hope that’s not the case this weekend but you see the squad they have, the quality with the likes of Scott Brown.

“And fair play to the chairman because he stood by him when they went on that run and he came out in public and backed him and I think it is fair to say now he is maybe getting repaid.

“So do I think they are a better team than they were? I think they are now getting the results that they weren’t getting at the start of the season.

“They are still the same team, still got the same quality of players that we managed to beat here so we have to go up there with a positive attitude, that we know we can beat them.

“It is a very tough place to go, yes, we get that but we go up there with a positive attitude and hopefully with a couple of players that weren’t available last week.

“It is a tough fixture but they are all tough in this league and it is one we are looking forward to.”