Coming just seven days after sealing the second consecutive league title with last weekend’s 2-0 win over Hearts, this game does present a different type of challenge, with the stakes in this derby altered from what they could have been.

The manager added: “There’s a different context to all of them. Home is different to away, the league is different to a cup semi-final or to a cup final.

“So they are all different in terms of the context you go into. This one is different again.

“In terms of the teams and the way they play, obviously when they had the managerial change and Michael came in, they tweaked the way they play a little bit. So that provided a different challenge from earlier in the year.

“And there’s always difference, depending on injuries, or team selections depending on the make-up of the team. We try to treat every game as being an individual contest, but there are similarities there between all of them, but I think you need to address them in a singular fashion.”

With the Premiership title won, the build-up to this game has also altered with, in terms of the title at least, the ‘must-win’ tag dropping from the radar as the title is already in the bag.

Ange Postecoglou said: “If we were going there to win it, there probably would be a little bit more hype around it.

“So from that perspective it doesn’t feel as intense in terms of the build-up to the game, but I don’t think that will diminish the game itself.

'It will still have the elements you expect in a derby game, so I don’t think it will be any different.'

With the title heat off, it could also put a different perspective on the other remaining games ahead of the Scottish Cup final.

The manager added: “There’s no doubt that when you get to the tail of the season and you’re close to clinching the title, things just naturally tighten up.

“It happened last year too when, even in the game against Dundee United when we won it, it wasn’t a great performance.

“We just got the job done and there was an element of that last week against Hearts, although to be fair to Hearts, I thought they played really well in the first half.

“So, now with that done, potentially there’s an opportunity for players to play a little but more freely now, but because we’ve still got the cup final coming up, all of the players want to be at their best for that.

"They want to play in that obviously, so I don’t think they’ll was to take their foot off the pedal for these last few games.

“We’ll still have the intent to play these games to the best of our ability because we’ve still got something to play for this year and that’s what the next three weeks and four games will be about.”

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Ange Postecoglou: It’s a game that always means something to our supporters